Grid-scale batteries: They’re not just lithium

When size and weight don’t matter, lots of other battery chemistries can work.

A shipping container labeled with a battery symbol, set among wind turbines and solar panels.

Enlarge (credit: Petal)

As power utilities and industrial companies seek to use more renewable energy, the market for grid-scale batteries is expanding rapidly. Alternatives to lithium-ion technology may provide environmental, labor, and safety benefits. And these new chemistries can work in markets like the electric grid and industrial applications that lithium doesn't address well.

“I think the market for longer-duration storage is just now emerging,” said Mark Higgins, chief commercial officer and president of North America at Redflow. “We have a lot of… very rapid scale-up in the types of projects that we’re working on and the size of projects that we’re working on. We’ve deployed about 270 projects around the world. Most of them have been small off-grid or remote-grid systems. What we’re seeing today is much more grid-connected types of projects.”

“Demand… seems to be increasing every day,” said Giovanni Damato, president of CMBlu Energy. Media projections of growth in this space are huge. “We're really excited about the opportunity to… just be able to play in that space and provide as much capacity as possible.”

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Human cases of raccoon parasite may be your best excuse to buy a flamethrower

The infection is very rare, but it’s definitely one you want to avoid.

Young raccoon looking out from a tree.

Enlarge / Young raccoon looking out from a tree. (credit: Getty | Camerique)

If you were looking for a reason to keep a flamethrower around the house, you may have just found one.

This week, the Los Angeles County health department reported that two people were infected with a raccoon parasite that causes severe, frequently fatal, infections of the eyes, organs, and central nervous system. Those who survive are often left with severe neurological outcomes, including blindness, paralysis, loss of coordination, seizures, cognitive impairments, and brain atrophy.

The parasitic roundworm behind the infection, called Baylisascaris procyonis, spreads via eggs in raccoons feces. Adult worms live in the intestines of the masked trash scavengers, and each female worm can produce nearly 200,000 eggs per day. Once in the environment, those eggs can remain infectious for years. They can survive drying out as well as most chemical treatments and disinfectants, including bleach.

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How breaking up Google could lower your online shopping bill

A DOJ win in Google’s ad tech monopoly trial could benefit everyone, experts say.

How breaking up Google could lower your online shopping bill

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

As the US Department of Justice aims to break up Google's alleged ad tech monopoly, experts say that remedies sought in the antitrust trial could potentially benefit not just advertisers and publishers but also everyone targeted by ads online.

So far, the DOJ has argued that through acquisitions, Google allegedly monopolizes the ad server market, taking a substantial cut of every online ad sale by tying together products on the buyer and seller sides. Locking publishers into using its seller-side platform to access its large advertiser demand, Google also allegedly shut out rivals by pushing advertisers into a corner, then making it hard for publishers to switch platforms.

This scheme also allegedly set Google up to charge higher "monopoly" fees, the DOJ argued, allegedly putting some publishers out of business and raising costs for advertisers.

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Secret calculator hack brings ChatGPT to the TI-84, enabling easy cheating

Tiny device installed inside TI-84 enables Wi-Fi Internet, access to AI chatbot.

An OpenAI logo on a TI-84 calculator screen.

Enlarge (credit: ChromaDev)

On Saturday, a YouTube creator called "ChromaLock" published a video detailing how he modified a Texas Instruments TI-84 graphing calculator to connect to the Internet and access OpenAI's ChatGPT, potentially enabling students to cheat on tests. The video, titled "I Made The Ultimate Cheating Device," demonstrates a custom hardware modification that allows users of the graphing calculator to type in problems sent to ChatGPT using the keypad and receive live responses on the screen.

ChromaLock began by exploring the calculator's link port, typically used for transferring educational programs between devices. He then designed a custom circuit board he calls "TI-32" that incorporates a tiny Wi-Fi-enabled microcontroller, the Seed Studio ESP32-C3 (which costs about $5), along with other components to interface with the calculator's systems.

It's worth noting that the TI-32 hack isn't a commercial project. Replicating ChromaLock's work would involve purchasing a TI-84 calculator, a Seed Studio ESP32-C3 microcontroller, and various electronic components, and fabricating a custom PCB based on ChromaLock's design, which is available online.

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Google calls for halting use of WHOIS for TLS domain verifications

WHOIS data is unreliable. So why is it used in TLS certificate applications?

Google calls for halting use of WHOIS for TLS domain verifications

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Certificate authorities and browser makers are planning to end the use of WHOIS data verifying domain ownership following a report that demonstrated how threat actors could abuse the process to obtain fraudulently issued TLS certificates.

TLS certificates are the cryptographic credentials that underpin HTTPS connections, a critical component of online communications verifying that a server belongs to a trusted entity and encrypts all traffic passing between it and an end user. These credentials are issued by any one of hundreds of CAs (certificate authorities) to domain owners. The rules for how certificates are issued and the process for verifying the rightful owner of a domain are left to the CA/Browser Forum. One "base requirement rule" allows CAs to send an email to an address listed in the WHOIS record for the domain being applied for. When the receiver clicks an enclosed link, the certificate is automatically approved.

Non-trivial dependencies

Researchers from security firm watchTowr recently demonstrated how threat actors could abuse the rule to obtain fraudulently issued certificates for domains they didn’t own. The security failure resulted from a lack of uniform rules for determining the validity of sites claiming to provide official WHOIS records.

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Reviewing iOS 18 for power users: Control Center, iCloud, and more

Never mind emojis—here’s some stuff that makes iOS more efficient.

Control Center in iOS 18 in its customization view

Enlarge / Control Center has a whole new customization interface. (credit: Samuel Axon)

iOS 18 launched this week, and while its flagship feature (Apple Intelligence) is still forthcoming, the new OS included two significant new buckets of customization: the home screen and Control Center.

We talked about home screen a few days ago, so for our next step in our series on iOS 18, it’s now time to turn our attention to the new ways you can adjust the Control Center to your liking. While we’re at it, we’ll assess a few other features meant to make iOS more powerful and more efficient for power users.

This is by no means the most significant update for power users Apple has released of the iPhone operating system—there’s nothing like Shortcuts, for example, or the introduction of the Files app a few years ago. But with the increasingly expensive iPhone Pro models, Apple still seems to be trying to make the case that you’ll be able to do more with your phone than you used to.

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Soon you’ll be able to remap the Copilot key on Windows PCs

When Microsoft announced that most new keyboards for Windows PCs would feature a dedicated Copilot key, a lot of people remained unconvinced that it was a good idea to add a key for a single feature that many folks don’t plan on using. Now Micros…

When Microsoft announced that most new keyboards for Windows PCs would feature a dedicated Copilot key, a lot of people remained unconvinced that it was a good idea to add a key for a single feature that many folks don’t plan on using. Now Microsoft has announced that it’s begun rolling out an update to […]

The post Soon you’ll be able to remap the Copilot key on Windows PCs appeared first on Liliputing.

A bunch of budget Chromebooks will receive updates for at least 12 years (through 2035)

One of the selling points for Chromebooks is that they receive automatic software updates delivered by Google on a regular basis, adding new features and performance enhancements over time. At least, until Google stops delivering updates. And that was …

One of the selling points for Chromebooks is that they receive automatic software updates delivered by Google on a regular basis, adding new features and performance enhancements over time. At least, until Google stops delivering updates. And that was a big problem for a while, because originally Google only promised to deliver updates for 5 […]

The post A bunch of budget Chromebooks will receive updates for at least 12 years (through 2035) appeared first on Liliputing.

One company appears to be thriving as part of NASA’s return to the Moon

“This has really been a transformational year for us.”

The second Intuitive Machines lander is prepared for hot-fire testing this week.

Enlarge / The second Intuitive Machines lander is prepared for hot-fire testing this week. (credit: Intuitive Machines)

One of the miracles of the Apollo Moon landings is that they were televised, live, for all the world to see. This transparency diffused doubts about whether the lunar landings really happened and were watched by billions of people.

However, as remarkable a technical achievement as it was to broadcast from the Moon in 1969, the video was grainy and black and white. As NASA contemplates a return to the Moon as part of the Artemis program, it wants much higher resolution video and communications with its astronauts on the lunar surface.

To that end, NASA announced this week that it had awarded a contract to Houston-based Intuitive Machines for "lunar relay services." Essentially this means Intuitive Machines will be responsible for building a small constellation of satellites around the Moon that will beam data back to Earth from the lunar surface.

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