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Category: mobile phones

Twisting atom-thin materials reveals new way to save computing energy

A recent study shows a new and potentially more energy-efficient way for information to be transmitted inside electronic systems, including computers and phones—without relying on electric currents or external magnetic fields.

In today’s electronics, information is transmitted by moving electrons through circuits, where ones and zeros are represented by high or low electrical signals. While this approach has enabled modern computing, the movement of electrical charge inevitably generates heat, leading to energy loss and limiting how much devices can be miniaturized and improved.

In the new study, published in Nano Letters, researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and international collaborators demonstrate that simply twisting two layers of certain atom-thin magnetic materials allows magnetic signals to carry information instead of relying on electrical currents to do the work.

Researchers discover a new pathway to building energy-efficient computing chips

The growing popularity of electronic devices—from fitness trackers and laptops to smartphones—is driving demand for more energy-efficient computing chips. Now, researchers have found a way to change the electronic properties of a common semiconductor material, potentially laying the foundation for faster, lower-power data storage and processing.

In a study published in Science, a UC Berkeley-led team of researchers discovered they can transform titanium dioxide (TiO₂) into a ferroelectric material by reducing its thickness to less than 3 nanometers (nm), roughly the diameter of a single strand of human DNA. These findings, according to the researchers, could open a pathway toward ultra-scaled, energy-efficient electronic devices.

Ferroelectric materials, with their ability to switch electric polarizations, have a long history in the semiconductor industry. Today, many researchers believe that they may hold the key to enabling next-generation, energy-efficient nanoelectronics, including non-volatile memory, logic devices and emerging computing technologies.

CloudZ malware abuses Microsoft Phone Link to steal SMS and OTPs

A new version of the CloudZ remote access tool (RAT) is deploying a previously unseen malicious plugin called Pheno that hijacks the Microsoft Phone Link connection to steal sensitive codes from mobile devices.

The malware was discovered in an intrusion that was active since at least January and researchers believe the threat actor’s purpose was to steal credentials and temporary passcodes.

Microsoft Phone Link comes installed on Windows 10 and 11, and allows using the computer to make and take calls, respond to texts, or view notifications received on the mobile device (Android and iOS).

Google now offers up to $1.5 million for some Android exploits

Google overhauls its Android and Chrome vulnerability rewards programs, offering bounties of up to $1.5 million for the most difficult exploits while scaling back payouts for flaws that artificial intelligence (AI) has made easier to find.

The top reward of $1.5 million is reserved for zero-click Pixel Titan M2 security chip full-chain exploits with persistence, the most technically demanding attack scenario in the program, while the same exploits, but without persistence, are also eligible for up to $750,000.

On the Google Chrome side, full-chain browser process exploits on up-to-date operating systems and hardware now come with rewards of up to $250,000, plus an additional $250,128 bonus for successfully exploiting MiraclePtr-protected memory allocations.

Magnon lifetime extended 100x paves the way for mini quantum computers

Magnons are tiny waves in magnetization that travel through solid magnetic materials, much like the ripples that spread across a pond when a stone is thrown into it. Unlike photons, which travel through empty space or optical fibers, magnons propagate within a magnetic solid. Their wavelengths can be reduced to the nanometer range, meaning that magnonic circuits could, in principle, fit onto a chip no larger than those found in today’s smartphones. Furthermore, as an excitation of a solid, a magnon naturally couples to numerous other fundamental quasi-particles—phonons, photons and others—making it an ideal building block for hybrid quantum systems and quantum metrology.

Until now, there has been one major obstacle: magnons have had a very short lifetime. This lifetime—the period during which they can reliably carry quantum information—was limited to a few hundred nanoseconds at best. Far too short for any practical quantum computation. The team led by Wiener has now achieved a breakthrough: the physicists were able to measure magnon lifetimes of up to 18 microseconds—almost a hundred times longer than any value observed to date.

In this state, magnons are no longer fleeting signals, but become long-lived, reliable carriers of quantum information, comparable to the superconducting qubits used in today’s leading quantum processors. The study has recently been published in the journal Science Advances.

OS Orchestration: Stepping Into a Frictionless Future of AI Sparks and Endless Abundance

There’s a very specific reason the tech giants are suddenly racing to get AI running locally on your phone, watch, and smart glasses.

The traditional Operating System (OS) is quietly being retired. Soon, the OS as you know it will be replaced entirely by an omnipresent AI hub.

But if the OS becomes an AI, what happens to that grid of static apps we rely on every day? And when the friction of swiping and searching disappears, how does the underlying economy of the Internet shift?

In my latest piece, I explore what happens next: the death of the app, the rise of dynamic AI “Sparks,” and a hidden token economy where your device doesn’t just cost you money—it generates it.

Want a glimpse at what your digital life looks like when you stop swiping and start orchestrating?

I have been on a breathtaking journey, for decades I have been watching how we connect with the world and each other. If you’ve been around tech long enough, you remember the humble hum of single twisted-pair copper wires, and the sheer, brick-like weight of early cell phones. Fast forward to today, and we are streaming the entirety of human knowledge over millimeter-wave antennas onto super-thin slabs of glass in our pockets.

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Mechanochemistry simplifies synthesis of challenging conductive organic molecules

Mechanochemistry is a growing field for chemical reactions that proceed in the solid state in the absence, or with minuscule amounts, of solvent added. For decades, solvents have been considered conventional for the progression of modern chemistry; nonetheless, researchers are increasingly demonstrating that mechanochemistry can synthesize complex molecules more effectively. With more progress, mechanochemistry could alleviate solvent-related environmental and financial burdens in chemical industries.

Using mechanochemistry, researchers from Nagoya University, including Koya M. Hori, Yoshifumi Toyama, and Hideto Ito successfully developed a two-step synthetic method for dihydrodinaphthopentalenes (DHDPs), conductive organic molecules that are considerably challenging to synthesize. These findings were recently published in the journal RSC Mechanochemistry on February 5, 2026. The results are expected to advance the synthesis of compounds with applications in organic materials.

Conductive organic molecules are used in increasingly essential technologies such as OLEDs in smartphone screens, solar cells for renewable energy, anti-static polymer coatings, and more. Perhaps due to their complex and expensive synthesis, however, DHDPs have not been integrated into any commercialized products.

Abstract: SLC26A4-gene mutations are a frequent cause of hereditary HearingLoss

SLC26A4-gene mutations are a frequent cause of hereditary HearingLoss.

https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI193812 Here, Tsai et al. report that targeted AAV delivery to the endolymphatic sac and cochlear lateral wall restores auditory physiology and ameliorates cochlear pathology in a mouse model of Slc26a4-related deafness. Pendred syndrome DFNB4.

The image shows an AAV-GFP–transduced spiral prominence, a structure within the cochlear lateral wall. GFP (green) marks successfully transduced cells, phalloidin-568 (red) labels the actin cytoskeleton, and DAPI (blue) stains nuclei, highlighting efficient gene transfer to inner ear tissues essential for auditory function.

Address correspondence to: Chen-Chi Wu, Department of Otolaryngology, National Taiwan University Hospital, No. 1, Changde St., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 100,229, Taiwan. Phone: 886.2.2312.3456; Email: [email protected]. Or to: Yen-Fu Cheng, Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Beitou District, Taipei City 11,217, Taiwan. Phone: 886.2.2875.7642; Email: [email protected].

Find articles by Tsai, Y. in: | Google Scholar

1Institute of Brain Science, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.

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