Hasta La Gadget!

Dutch authorities arrested a hacker for obtaining and trying to sell the personal information of nearly every Austrian citizen in May 2020, according to Reuters. It includes almost nine million data sets, roughly lining up with Austria’s population.

The defendant, arrested in November in an Amsterdam apartment, was reportedly already known to international police. The 25-year-old defendant also offered “similar data sets” from Italy, the Netherlands and Colombia. Dutch police waited until now to announce the arrest to avoid hindering ongoing investigations.

Authorities say the hacker posted the information in an online forum. Police say the trove consists of “registration data,” essential info residents must provide to authorities. That includes their full name, address and date of birth — but not financial info, fortunately. Nevertheless, the police confirmed the material’s authenticity, adding that “since this data was freely available on the Internet, it must absolutely be assumed that these registration data are, in full or in part, irrevocably in the hands of criminals.”

The future: it’s undeniably going to be a terrifying place. If you thought today was scary, just wait to see what tomorrow brings. Case in point: this sea cucumber-inspired shape-shifting soft robot developed by researchers at Carnegie Melon and Sun Yat-sen University can melt, escape a prison cell, and reform itself outside the bars just like a T-1000 Terminator. Yikes!

The soft robot, officially a ‘magnetoactive solid-liquid phase transitional machine,’ is made of magnetic particles suspended in metal with a low melting point (in this case, Galinstan, a combination of gallium, indium, and tin). When hit with an alternating magnetic field, the LEGO minifig-inspired bot is induction heated from a solid to a liquid state. After oozing out of its imprisonment, freezing reforms the solid bot on the floor outside its cell again. I’m scared. Are you scared?

The researchers say potential applications of the technology include “smart soldering machines and universal screws for smart assembly and machines for foreign body removal and drug delivery in a model stomach.” That certainly sounds admirable, but I’ve got the feeling all we’re really gonna get out of this are a bunch of killer robots that can’t be contained.

[via TechEBlog]

Beloved nerd, noted horror/comedy actor, and internet handsome man Rahul Kohli is going to be in a video game. I don’t mean he’s going to be voice acting (although, you know I wouldn’t hate that at all), but he’s actually going to be featured on a new Trooper Card in the upcoming English version of Sega’s Like a…

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For the past year on the coast of France, the waves crashing ashore have borne evidence of an unsettling mystery. An untold number of tiny plastic pellets are landing on the beaches of Brittany, Pays de la Loire, and elsewhere.

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It might not be long before every ridesharing car in New York City is electric. Mayor Eric Adams has outlined an agenda that will require “high-volume for-hire” vehicles at Uber, Lyft and similar companies to be zero-emissions by 2030. There will be “no new costs” for drivers, the administration says. The initiative would build on the city’s plans to electrify its own fleet.

Adams didn’t detail how this transition would take place. The Vergenotes that the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which already regulates NYC ridesharing, would likely be responsible for implementing the EV strategy.

At least some companies are already onboard with the idea. Uber “applaud[s]” Adams’ plan, according to a statement, while Lyft says it’s “excited” to work with the city. It’s not a difficult target for them, however. Uber and Lyft were already planning to go completely electric by 2030. They also have programs in place to encourage EV adoption across the US, such as Uber’s rentals through Hertz as well as Lyft’s incentives. Pressure elsewhere might also leave services with little choice. California will require that most ride-hailing cars are EVs by 2030, for instance.

Drivers may face challenges, however. EVs are currently more expensive than their combustion engine counterparts, and workers may have trouble affording them even if the maintenance costs are ultimately lower. EV prices are declining, but it may be a while yet before they’re truly affordable to a driver base struggling to improve pay.

There’s also the question of infrastructure. A 2022 study led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that NYC would need over 1,000 150kW fast charging stations to adequately power 20,000 rideshare and taxi cars, even if 15 percent of drivers could top up overnight. The mayor’s proposal would electrify “100,000-plus” rides — the city may need a major investment in charging facilities to make the switch.