computing

Margaret Hamilton, the computer scientist who led the development of the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo missions and is credited with coining the term 'software engineering', has died, according to reports led by MIT News. Tributes have highlighted her role in making the Apollo 11 moon landing possible and her lasting influence on the field of software engineering.

Google has been ordered to temporarily stop construction work on its datacentres in Finland pending a proper assessment of the projects' environmental impact. The decision affects the company's expansion of computing infrastructure in the Nordic country, where tech firms have invested heavily to take advantage of cheap energy and cool climate. The move adds to growing scrutiny of the environmental footprint of large-scale datacentre development.

Physicists have simulated gluon string breaking using a trapped-ion system, according to Physics World. The experiment models how the strong force produces new particle pairs when quarks are pulled apart, a phenomenon that cannot be directly calculated with ordinary computers. The work demonstrates how quantum simulators can tackle problems in particle physics that are out of reach for classical methods.

The Department of Commerce has amended its existing CHIPS Program award with GlobalFoundries, redirecting $955 million to speed up investments in silicon photonics, silicon-germanium, and advanced packaging. The reallocation signals a shift in US semiconductor funding priorities toward chip technologies seen as critical for AI and next-generation computing, and it is drawing attention from industry observers tracking how CHIPS Act money is being spent.

AnitaB.org has cancelled the 2026 edition of the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world's largest gathering of women in computing. The announcement, made via a press release on the organisation's website, has drawn attention in tech circles, where the conference has long been a major venue for recruiting, networking and advancing women in technology.

Ukrainian drones have struck a Yandex data center in Vladimir, Russia, according to reports. It is the third Yandex facility hit in four days, following a strike on Sasovo on October 8 that reportedly housed two of the company's three AI supercomputers. The campaign appears to target Russia's AI and cloud computing infrastructure, with observers noting the escalating attacks on the Russian tech giant's critical sites.

Cryptography engineer Filippo Valsorda has published a guide titled '(Post-Quantum) Cryptographic Right Answers', offering developers concrete recommendations on which algorithms and protocols to adopt as quantum threats loom. The piece outlines best practices for migrating to post-quantum encryption, including choices like ML-KEM and hybrid schemes. Readers on Hacker News are debating its advice, with the discussion drawing strong engagement as the security industry races to prepare for quantum computing.

Tom Brown, a co-founder of Anthropic, is reported to have used Republican political connections to help secure a compute deal with SpaceX worth $1.25 billion per month, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The arrangement highlights how AI companies are turning to politically connected intermediaries to lock in scarce computing capacity for model training.

Cryptographer Matthew Green says he thinks the world might lose public key cryptography, the mathematical foundation securing most internet communications, including HTTPS, messaging and digital signatures. The warning is fueling discussion about quantum computing advances and the urgent migration to post-quantum encryption standards before existing public key systems become breakable.

Interest in a foldable iPhone reportedly called the 'iPhone Duo' is rising across multiple countries. Japanese outlet ASCII has published an analysis asking whether the device could serve as a replacement for tablets and computers, part of growing speculation about Apple's long-rumoured foldable phone. The topic is now trending in Italy, the UK, France, Spain and Canada.

Reports and discussion around a foldable iPhone, referred to as the iPhone Duo, are circulating. A Japanese tech outlet examined whether the device could replace a tablet or computer, while Gizmodo reports that its cover layer can be replaced but users should never try peeling it off themselves. The rumours are trending in the UK, Spain and Canada.

Developer Simon Willison argues that autonomous AI systems need default hard budget caps on essentially everything they touch, from API spending to compute and tool usage. The argument is that agents acting without human supervision can incur runaway costs or cause damage, so spending and resource limits should be built in by default rather than set manually. Discussion is focusing on how to implement such caps safely.

A daily cybersecurity briefing dated Wednesday, October 14, 2026 is circulating online, collecting the latest updates from the previous 24 hours in Italian. The item links readers to the full roundup at Il Punto Cyber, a newsletter covering cybersecurity and computing news. It functions as a routine digest summarizing recent security developments for Italian-speaking readers.

German media report that a Ukrainian drone attack struck a major Yandex data centre in Russia, with satellite images showing significant damage to the facility. Reports say services used by millions of Russians have been disrupted, and commentators describe the strike as a blow to Russia's artificial intelligence ambitions. It is at least the second such attack on Yandex infrastructure, highlighting a widening campaign against Russian computing and internet infrastructure.

A developer has released an open-source tool that lets AI agents paint big arrows, boxes and text directly on a user's screen. The idea is to make AI assistants communicate more visually, highlighting exactly what they are referring to instead of describing it in text. The launch is drawing attention and debate among developers about how much of a computer interface AI agents should be able to control.

Bob Cringely, the longtime technology writer and commentator known for his coverage of Silicon Valley and the PBS series 'Triumph of the Nerds', has died, according to a notice shared on the Hacker News forum. The news drew immediate attention from readers, many of whom knew him for his years chronicling the computer industry and its major figures. Details about his age or cause of death were not included in the announcement.

Apple research describes a system that pools idle Apple Silicon Macs into a dynamic, distributed virtual GPU cloud, letting spare compute capacity serve demanding workloads such as machine learning. The idea is drawing attention among developers and infrastructure enthusiasts, who are debating how practical it is to aggregate consumer-grade chips into a cloud-scale GPU alternative.

Metrologists are set to vote on eliminating the leap second, the extra second periodically added to Coordinated Universal Time to keep clocks aligned with Earth's gradually slowing rotation. Critics say the irregular adjustments disrupt computing and communications systems, while reports suggest the change could eventually require a leap hour in several centuries.