Debugged Weekly: Jul 1st–7th
Wind farms, German security, and newspapers ran by robots! See the latest in the news this past week.
1. Tesla installing world’s largest battery at South Australian wind farm
Summary: Tesla has announced that it will install the world’s largest lithium-ion battery on a wind farm in South Australia under an agreement with the state government and French renewable energy company Neoen. The Neoen Hornsdale Wind Farm in Jamestown will be paired with Tesla’s 100MW/129MWh battery, which will be installed by the end of the year.
Why this matters: This is a significant milestone for wind energy and showcases the progress made within the past few years.
2. Germany says cyber threat greater than expected, more firms affected
Summary: Germany’s BSI federal cyber agency said on Friday that the threat posed to German firms by recent cyber attacks launched via a Ukrainian auditing software was greater than expected, and some German firms had seen production halted for over a week. Analyses by computer experts showed that waves of attacks had been launched via software updates of the M.E.Doc accounting software since April, the BSI said in a statement.
Why this matters: The statement by the BSI increases concern on system security in Germany.
3. Facebook meets Pakistan government after blasphemy death sentence
Summary: A senior Facebook official met with Pakistan’s interior minister on Friday to discuss a demand the company prevent blasphemous content or be blocked. The meeting comes after a Pakistani counter-terrorism court sentenced a 30-year-old man to death for making blasphemous comments on Facebook, part of a wider crack-down.
Why this matters: The outcome of this potentially deadly case can set a dangerous precedent on freedom of speech through social media platforms in Pakistan and surrounding regions.
4. Press Association wins Google grant to run news service written by computers
Summary: The Press Association has won a €706,000 (£621,000) grant to run a news service with computers writing localized news stories. Robots will now help a national news agency to create up to 30,000 local news stories a month, with the help of human journalists and funded by a Google grant.
Why this matters: This is an important opportunity for AI to showcase its potential in journalism.
5. The Defense Department will soon use more secure email
Summary: The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the body in charge of the Pentagon’s email, said it plans to enable stronger encryption on all emails by July 2018. The agency explained its plans to move to a stronger email encryption technology in a letter this week. The tech is called STARTTLS, a 15-year-old encryption technology that prevents people from spying on emails when they’re sent back and forth.
Why this matters: This move by the DISA shows strong intent to bolster federal security.
