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Israel is the first to respond to a cyberattack with immediate force
It's no longer novel for militaries to respond to cyberattacks with physical force (the US used a drone strike in 2015), but now they're being treated with the same urgency as real-world bullets and missiles. Israel Defense Forces have launched an airstrike on a Gaza Strip building believed to house Hamas digital warfare operatives after the militant group reportedly failed in an attempted "cyber offensive." Details of the virtual attack weren't available, but the IDF said it was "ahead of them all the time."
SpaceIL plans second private Moon lander despite crash
SpaceIL's first attempt at a private Moon landing didn't go according to plan. However, that isn't deterring the team from giving it another shot. Founder Morris Khan has announced that the team will build another Beresheet lander and "complete the mission." The task force behind the new lander will start its work "first thing" on April 14th, he said.
Privately-owned Moon lander crashes in historic attempt
Private spaceflight isn't quite ready to mark another milestone. SpaceIL's Beresheet lander has crashed on the Moon after mission controllers lost communication during its descent to the lunar surface. It did successfully take a selfie on the way down, but its experiments are a bust. It was supposed to measure the local magnetic field and use a NASA-made laser retroreflector array (eight mirrors with quartz cube corners) to relay its position to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter using light.
Airbnb reverses ban on West Bank listings
Airbnb is changing course on its earlier decision to ban listings for Israeli settlements in the West Bank. As part of a settlement with a pro-Israel law organization that had sued over the ban, Airbnb said it would allow listings in the hotly contested region. However, it vowed to donate any profits from listings to unspecified humanitarian aid groups. The company planned a similar move for other disputed territories, including the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in eastern Europe.
Twitter's bans ahead of Israeli election include an odd religious sect
Twitter has been cracking down on suspicious accounts ahead of Israel's election on April 9th, but there's been plenty of mystery surrounding how it has taken action. A BuzzFeed News source claims that Twitter has suspended about 600 accounts engaging in unusually coordinated behavior. Most of those were reportedly spreading misinformation that attacked the main opposition party while promoting incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the source also said that Twitter banned "dozens" of accounts from the Church of Almighty God, an unusual Chinese Christian sect that believes Jesus has been revived as its founder's wife.
Researchers trick radiologists with malware-created cancer nodes
Security researchers in Israel have developed malware that can add realistic-looking but entirely fake growths to CT and MRI scans or hide real cancerous nodules that would be detected by the medical imagining equipment. The software, designed by experts at the Ben Gurion University Cyber Security Research Center, was created to highlight the lax security protecting diagnostic tools and hospital networks that handle sensitive information.
IKEA makes furniture more accessible with 3D printing
If you live with disabilities, shopping for furniture can be difficult. Many common furniture items aren't designed with accessibility in mind, and those that are can be rare or non-existent. IKEA Israel has a technological solution: 3D print pieces that make them easier to use. The store has collaborated with Milbat on ThisAbles, a project that provides 3D-printed add-ons for furniture that can be tough to use with certain conditions. Among the 13 initial items are easier-to-grab handles, bumpers to protect cabinets and lifts to raise couches.
NVIDIA joins Intel in bidding war for major Israeli chip maker
If you needed any further evidence that NVIDIA is becoming more of a direct competitor for Intel, you might just have it. A Calcalist source claimed that NVIDIA has made an offer to acquire Mellanox, a chip maker best known for its high-performance computing and networking tech. While it's not clear how much NVIDIA has been willing to pay, Reuters insiders said that NVIDIA could pay more than $7 billion -- well past the $6 billion Intel reportedly offered a few months ago.
Samsung reportedly bought a company to improve its phone cameras
Many-camera smartphones could soon be par for the course at Samsung, and the company appears determined to make the most of them. Sources for both Calcalist and Globes claim Samsung has bought the Israeli mobile camera technology company Corephotonics in a deal worth $155 million. The exact aims of the purchase aren't clear, but Corephotonics is best-known for developing a form of mobile dual-camera photography that improves image quality -- and suing Apple for allegedly copying the technology.
Facebook expands election integrity efforts ahead of EU vote
European Parliament elections are set to take place in May, which of course means there are bad actors who will try to use nefarious means to disrupt the process. Facebook is trying to clamp down on interference on its platforms, with measures including new rules for electoral ads and those related to key election issues. Advertisers need to confirm their identities before they can post ads, while Facebook plans to increase transparency around such ads (an effort with which it has faced some difficulties).
Airbnb hit with lawsuit for delisting Israeli settlements
Airbnb is facing a class-action lawsuit over its delisting of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Lawyers for Ma'anit Rabinovich from the West Bank settlement of Kida are seeking 15,000 shekels ($2,573) in personal damages, along with an unspecified sum on behalf others, for what they describe as "outrageous discrimination."
Airbnb will remove guest home listings in the West Bank
To date, Airbnb has argued that it would allow home listings in disputed areas in the name of connecting people. Now, it's changing its mind. The company plans to remove roughly 200 listings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank after rethinking its policies for contested regions. Airbnb didn't provide a detailed explanation of its rationale in this specific instance, but noted that the listings are "at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians."
Our moon is the hottest property in the solar system right now
The space race is heating up again in ways we haven't seen since the end of the Cold War. We haven't been to the moon since 1972 but a number of private companies and national agencies have begun looking to our nearest celestial neighbor with renewed interest, not only as a site of scientific study but also as a fuel resource and potential staging area for trips further out into the solar system.
Volkswagen and Mobileye team up for an autonomous ride-hailing service
Intel-owned company Mobileye has teamed up with Volkswagen to launch an autonomous EV ride-hailing service in its native country of Israel. Their joint venture called "New Mobility" will use electric Volkswagen vehicles powered by Mobileye's Level 4 autonomous driving system "AV Kit." A third partner, Israeli VW distributor Champion Motors, will manage the service's fleet and logistics. The Israeli government has promised to provide the venture with the regulatory and infrastructure support it needs, so the companies might not have to worry about dealing with red tape and bureaucracy.
Watch a medevac drone perform a simulated rescue
Medevac missions won't have to put more humans in danger if Tactical Robotics has its way. The Urban Aeronautics-owned firm has successfully completed its first "mission representative" demo of the Cormorant, an autonomous VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) drone that can pick up two casualties without requiring a crew. The only people directly involved are those loading the victims -- there's a video camera for talking to conscious patients, but the machine otherwise flies on its own.
Apple may face criminal charges in France over iPhone slowdowns
Earlier this month, Apple admitted to slowing older iPhone models in order to prevent phones with older batteries from suddenly shutting down. Now, Reuters reports that the company may face a legal battle in France over the practice. A French organization called HOP, which in French stands for Stop Planned Obsolescence, filed legal complaints against Apple in Paris this week. It also filed complaints against Epson for similar reasons.
Israel may issue cryptocurrency to speed up payments
Some countries are treating cryptocurrencies as the bane of their existence, but that might not be true of Israel -- it might see the technology as a cure. Reuters sources have claimed that the Bank of Israel is considering issuing virtual currency in order to both build a "faster payments system" and reduce the amount of conventional cash circulating in the economy. Officials are reportedly ready to include the issue in the country's 2019 budget so long as the bank approves.
Israel warned the US about Kaspersky after hacking its network
Kaspersky is in hot water...again. The US government recently prohibited federal agencies from using the company's products, and the FBI is reportedly convincing private entities to do the same. Its latest headache is linked to the NSA cyberattacks allegedly carried out by Russian hackers, who made away with official cyber defense material in 2015. The US intelligence agency claimed it noticed the stolen files using Kaspersky software. Little else was revealed about the incident (news of which broke last week) until now. It seems Israeli officials tipped off the US about the Russian intrusion, having hacked into Kaspersky's network, according to The New York Times.
Will we be able to control the killer robots of tomorrow?
From ship-hunting Tomahawk missiles and sub-spying drone ships to semi-autonomous UAV swarms and situationally-aware reconnaissance robots, the Pentagon has long sought to protect its human forces with the use of robotic weapons. But as these systems gain ever-greater degrees of intelligence and independence, their increasing autonomy has some critics worried that humans are ceding too much power to devices whose decision-making processes we don't fully understand (and which we may not be entirely able to control).
Israel reportedly has US-made drones capable of launching grenades
Aerodynamics and physics dictate that you can't quite strap an assault rifle onto a DJI Phantom and expect it to fly and hit a target. Florida company Duke Robotics has apparently devised a way to keep a drone steady while compensating for a gun's recoil. "Though a system of flexibly connected pates, the TIKAD distributes the backward momentum in a way that keeps the vehicle stationary in the air," Defense One writes. "A ten-pound robot gimbal allows six degrees of movement freedom and the ability to rapidly re-target the weapon and camera."
