Today’s Top Technology Tips

0
619

Parents Find Son Snatched 32 years Ago
Source Link: DNA Use
 A Chinese couple whose son was abducted in a hotel in 1988 have been reunited with
him after 32 years. The boy was snatched at age two, while his father stopped to get
him some water on the way home from nursery school. The boy asked for a drink of
water, so they stopped in the entrance of a hotel. As the father cooled down some hot
water, he looked away briefly, and the boy was taken.
 The boy was two when he disappeared in 1988 and was sold to childless couple for
6,000 yuan (£690, $840 in today's money,) who raised him as their own son.
 The boy mother, Mrs. Li, quit her job to search for her son. She handed out some
100,000 flyers in more than 10 provinces and municipalities without success.
 Over the years she appeared on numerous Chinese television shows to appeal for
help. She followed 300 leads, but no match was found. In 2007, Mrs. Li started
volunteering with a group called "Baby Come Back Home", to help other parents look
for their missing children.
 Mrs. Li was told the good news on 10 May, “Mother's Day.” "This is the best gift I have
ever got," she said.
 So how does technology play a role in this story? There are two new technologies that
help foster this reunion. The man, now known as Mao, was tracked down in early May
by police who used facial recognition technology to analyze old photos of the boy.
His identity was later confirmed using DNA testing.

Nile Nickel’s Top Technology Tips
April 25, 2020 Volume 47 Issue 10

3

 In 2015, it was estimated that 20,000 children were being abducted each year in China.
 In 2009, China's Ministry of Public Security set up a DNA database which has since
helped to find more than 6,000 missing children. And in May 2016, the China’s ministry
launched a system called "Reunion", which by June 2019 had led to more than 4,000
children finding their families.
Likewise in the United States DNA has become a game changer as well. Since
2004 the University of North Texas (UNT) and its Center for Human
Identification, the leading lab in the country providing free DNA testing through a
federal grant to law enforcement and families of missing children. If you have
questions or want to find our more go to https://www.missingkids.org/
2. Nearly Half Of The Twitter Accounts Discussing ‘Reopening
America’ May Be Bots
Source Link: COVID BOTs
 Scrolling through your Twitter feed, it may not be obvious when you come upon a bot
account, something that is more likely to occur in the era of COVID-19. Carnegie
Mellon University researchers have discovered that much of the discussion around
the pandemic and stay-at-home orders is being fueled by misinformation campaigns
that use convincing bots..
 To analyze bot activity around the pandemic, CMU researchers since January have
collected more than 200 million tweets discussing coronavirus or COVID-19. Of the
top 50 influential retweeters, 82% are bots, they found. Of the top 1,000 retweeters,
62% are bots..
 The research team cannot point to specific entities behind the orchestrated attempts
to influence online conversations. "We do know that it looks like it's a propaganda
machine, and it definitely matches the Russian and Chinese playbooks, but it would
take a tremendous amount of resources to substantiate that," Carley said.

3. SpaceX Readies First Astronaut Launch by Private Firm
Source Link: SpaceX
 With the scheduled launch of two NASA astronauts into orbit Wednesday, SpaceX
aims to propel the U.S. into a historic new era of commercially led space exploration.

Nile Nickel’s Top Technology Tips
April 25, 2020 Volume 47 Issue 10

4

 No company has flown commercially developed hardware carrying humans and
rendezvoused with the international space station. If successful, it would be a
resounding achievement for Space Exploration Technologies Corp.; its billionaire
founder, Elon Musk; and a milestone for NASA. The mission plan to launch May
27 th ,or Wednesday’s would be the first from U.S. soil in nearly a decade, and seeks to
reset space exploration.
 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has spent years trying to shift
away from the lumbering process of building and designing government-owned
spacecraft, and toward using public-private partnerships to develop vehicles and then
pay private contractors for specific services.

 SpaceX’s efforts to launch astronauts into orbit have suffered various delays, totaling
about four years, including two catastrophic explosions of its Falcon 9 rocket and
nagging safety concerns about the Dragon capsule riding on top.
 SpaceX started in 2002, with barely a dozen employees and based in a converted
warehouse near a Southern California strip mall. The company has blossomed into a
global powerhouse renowned for reducing prices to launch commercial and
government payloads.
 With some 7,000 employees, and facilities from Washington state to Texas to Florida,
the company already has notched several records: It was the first private entity to
place a satellite into Earth’s orbit; the first to land and then reuse major parts of
returning rockets; and the first to send a spacecraft to link up with the orbiting
international laboratory.

4. Samsung develops new security chip for smartphones
Source Link: Security
 Samsung has launched a new secure element (SE) chip to protect private and
sensitive data on mobile devices, the company said on Tuesday.
 The chip, will be offered as a standalone turnkey with security software, Samsung
said.

Nile Nickel’s Top Technology Tips
April 25, 2020 Volume 47 Issue 10

5

 Common Criteria, which certifies the security level of IT products from EAL0 to EAL7
with seven being the most secure, gave the security chip a Common Criteria
Evaluation Assurance Level (CC EAL) 6+ certification.
 With the 6+ certification, Samsung said the SE chip has the highest rating to date
for a mobile component.
 According to Samsung, the new chip provides protection for mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablets when performing booting, isolated storage, mobile payment,
among other applications.
 It can also be used for e-passports and cryptocurrency hardware wallets, and to
support hardware-based root of trust and device authentication. The chip is also
versatile, Samsung added, as it can work independently from the security
performance of a device's main processor.
 The SE chip will be available in the third quarter.
5. 3D Printers Are On The Front Lines of the COVID-19
Pandemic
Source Link: 3D
 The US continues to struggle to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, both at a state
and federal level. So DIY efforts from academics, hobbyists, manufacturing experts,
and professional firms have coalesced around COVID hotspots like New York City to
meet the needs of health care workers and others on the front line of the response
effort..

 Some of these initiatives are highly organized, involving partnerships across state
lines to source materials and make use of industrial-grade manufacturing facilities.
Yet almost all began in the living rooms of people with access to a 3D printer and the
ingenuity to put together stopgap measures as existing supply lines struggled to keep
up.
 It doesn’t hurt that out of all the PPE in short supply during COVID-19, face shields
are among the easiest to produce — a single unit can be constructed with basic
materials by anyone with a 3D printer or even a laser or waterjet cutter. “The nice
thing about shields is that they’re easy to produce relatively quickly,” Hudspeth says.

Nile Nickel’s Top Technology Tips
April 25, 2020 Volume 47 Issue 10

6

“People who have larger 3D printers and a relatively basic piece of plastic that is
flexible enough to bend can make a face shield.”
 Ventilator Values (Story)
Technology Tidbits – Small Bites of Technology Goodness

 Facebook and Twitter says work from home maybe the norm . . . who will be next?

 Formula E driver Daniel Abt uses professional gamer to compete for him in esports
race.