LogOn: Unfired earth blocks surpass modern building codes
A new homebuilding method with ancient roots in adobe offers protection from wildfires, earthquakes, high winds and floods, while being climate friendly and sustainable. The secret ingredient: compressed earth blocks made from mud. Shelley Schlender has the story in this…
Scammers swipe billions from Americans every year, many getting away with it
The scammers are winning. Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave projected to worsen as the U.S. population ages and technology like AI makes it easier than ever to perpetrate…
TikTok has launched tons of trends. Will its influence last?
new york — TikTok and its bite-sized videos arrived in the United States as a global version of the Chinese app Douyin in 2018. Less than six years later, the social media platform is deeply woven into the fabric of…
Russian-linked cybercampaigns focus on Olympics, French elections
paris — Photos of blood-red hands on a Holocaust memorial. Caskets at the Eiffel Tower. A fake French military recruitment drive calling for soldiers in Ukraine, and major French news sites improbably registered in an obscure Pacific territory, population 15,000….
Australia plans to build secret data centers with Amazon
SYDNEY — Australia said Thursday a $1.35 billion deal with U.S. technology giant Amazon to build three secure data centers for top-secret information will increase its military’s “war-fighting capacity.” The data centers are to be built in secret locations in…
Silicon Valley steps up screening on Chinese employees to counter espionage
Washington — Leading U.S. technology companies reportedly have increased security screening of employees and job applicants, which experts say is necessary to counter the cyber espionage threat from China. While the enhanced screening is being applied to employees and applicants…
NASA: ‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ nova eruption could happen any day
A nova eruption predicted to occur by September is being described by NASA as a “once-in-a-lifetime” event that will be visible to the human eye. Researchers tracking T Coronae Borealis — known as T CrB — say the eruption could…
Alliance sets sights on minerals needed for global shift to green energy
The U.S. government’s representative to the Minerals Security Partnership, an alliance of mostly Western countries that aims to speed the development of energy mineral supply chains, said last month that a Chinese company was using “predatory” tactics to hold down…
Meta risks fines over ‘pay for privacy’ model breaking EU rules
Brussels, Belgium — The EU accused Facebook owner Meta on Monday of breaching the bloc’s digital rules, paving the way for potential fines worth billions of euros. The charges against the US tech titan follow a finding last week against…
Russian satellite breaks up, forces space station astronauts to shelter
WASHINGTON — A defunct Russian satellite has broken up into more than 100 pieces of debris in orbit, forcing astronauts on the International Space Station to take shelter for about an hour and adding to the mass of space junk…