США поки не готові бачити Україну в НАТО, - Зеленський

На його думку, членство України в НАТО – "питання майбутнього".

The picture that probably best explains both why #Russia can’t capture the “30-50 km strip of land” (Rubio’s words) in #Donbas, and why #Ukraine doesn’t just want to give it up to Russians for free, even if we put aside any legal or moral arguments.

The yellow are fortification lines built by Ukraine since the original Russian invasion in 2014, and laboriously improved since. The density of these lines in Donetsk oblast’ exceeds everything that had been built elsewhere. When Putin says “we’re ready for war, but we want diplomacy” he was likely told by his generals that continued assaults on these lines will be suicidal for Russia, in literal sense.

Which is precisely why Russia wants to get them without fight as part of some silly “deal”, and why Ukraine won’t be agreeing to that until really losing the war. Letting Russians into these fortifications would also mean, that Ukraine would need to build another 30-50 km of similar lines to the west from Donetsk oblast’ to prevent repeated invasion after Russia signs the “eternal peace agreement”.

Трамп дав Зеленському "дні" на відповідь щодо мирної пропозиції, пише Financial Times.

Посланці Трампа тиснуть на Зеленського, вимагаючи швидкої реакції на його "мирну угоду", що передбачає територіальні поступки України в обмін на невизначені гарантії безпеки від США.

За даними видання, команда Трампа хоче досягти припинення вогню з росією "до Різдва"

MagQuest: Measuring Earth’s Magnetic Field with Space-Based Quantum Sensors

Recently the MagQuest competition on improving the measuring of the Earth’s magnetic field announced that the contestants in the final phase have now moved on to launching their satellites within the near future. The goal here is to create a much improved World Magnetic Model (WMM), which is used by the World Geodetic System (WGS). The WGS is an integral part of cartography, geodesy and satellite-based navigation, which includes every sat nav, smartphone and similar with built-in GNSS capabilities.

Although in this age of sat navs and similar it can seem quaint to see anyone bother with using the Earth’s magnetic field with a compass, there is a very good reason why e.g. your Android smartphone has an API for estimating the Earth’s magnetic field at the current location. After your sat nav or smartphone uses its magnetometer, the measurements are then corrected so that ‘north’ really is ‘north’. Since this uses the WMM, it’s pertinent that this model is kept as up to date as possible, with serious shifts in 2019 necessitating an early update outside of the usual five-year cycle.

Goal of the MagQuest competition is thus to find a method that enables much faster, even real-time updates. The three candidate satellites feature three different types of magnetometers: a scalar-vector magnetometer (COSMO), a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) quantum sensor, and the Io-1 satellite containing both a vector fluxgate and atomic scalar magnetometer.

The NV quantum magnetometer is quite possibly the most interesting one, featuring a new, quantum-level approach for magnetic sensing. This effectively uses a flaw in a diamond’s carbon matrix to create a quantum spin state that interacts with magnetic fields and can subsequently be read out. The advantage of this method is its extreme sensitivity, which makes it an interesting sensor for many other applications where measuring the Earth’s magnetic field is essential.

hackaday.com/2025/12/09/magque…

Making Glasses That Detect Smartglasses

[NullPxl]’s Ban-Rays concept is a wearable that detects when one is in the presence of camera-bearing smartglasses, such as Meta’s line of Ray-Bans. A project in progress, it’s currently focused on how to reliably perform detection without resorting to using a camera itself. Right now, it plays a well-known audio cue whenever it gets a hit.
Once software is nailed down, the device aims to be small enough to fit into glasses.
Currently, [NullPxl] is exploring two main methods of detection. The first takes advantage of the fact that image sensors in cameras act as tiny reflectors for IR. That means camera-toting smartglasses have an identifying feature, which can be sensed and measured. You can see a sample such reflection in the header image, up above.

As mentioned, Ban-Rays eschews the idea of using a camera to perform this. [NullPxl] understandably feels that putting a camera on glasses in order to detect glasses with cameras doesn’t hold much water, conceptually.

The alternate approach is to project IR in a variety of wavelengths while sensing reflections with a photodiode. Initial tests show that scanning a pair of Meta smartglasses in this way does indeed look different from regular eyeglasses, but probably not enough to be conclusive on its own at the moment. That brings us to the second method being used: wireless activity.

Characterizing a device by its wireless activity turned out to be trickier than expected. At first, [NullPxl] aimed to simply watch for BLE (Bluetooth Low-Energy) advertisements coming from smartglasses, but these only seem to happen during pairing and power-up, and sometimes when the glasses are removed from the storage case. Clearly a bit more is going to be needed, but since these devices rely heavily on wireless communications there might yet be some way to actively query or otherwise characterize their activity.

This kind of project is something that is getting some interest. Here’s another smartglasses detector that seems to depend entirely on sniffing OUIs (Organizationally Unique Identifiers); an approach [NullPxl] suspects isn’t scalable due to address randomization in BLE. Clearly, a reliable approach is still in the works.

The increasing numbers of smartglasses raises questions about the impact of normalizing tech companies turning people into always-on recording devices. Of course, the average person is already being subtly recorded by a staggering number of hidden cameras. But at least it’s fairly obvious when an individual is recording you with a personal device like their phone. That may not be the case for much longer.

hackaday.com/2025/12/09/making…

G4 iMac Becomes a Monitor with a MagSafe Secret

The G4 iMac is one of the more popular computers in the restomodding scene given its charm and unparalleled ergonomics. Most modern machines that people squeeze in don’t have a disc drive anymore though, so [EasternBloc Engineering] has fitted a retractable MagSafe charger into the drive bay of the machine.

In this example, the iMac has become simply a monitor, instead of an entire all-in-one computer, and the original 15″ display has been replaced with a lightweight 22″ monitor on a 3D printed VESA mount. The narrow confines of the iMac neck meant [EasternBloc Engineering] had to sever the connectors from the HDMI and power cable before reconnecting them once they were fed through.

The really novel part of this restomod is the engineering of the retractable MagSafe charger mount that pops out of the drive bay. [EasternBloc Engineering] started by looking at repurposing an original disc drive, but quickly turned to a bespoke 3D printed solution. Using a LEGO motor and gears for the drive, the system can stick its tongue out at you in a more modern way. A straight in-and-out mechanism like on an original disc drive would’ve been easier to implement, but we appreciate the extra time for angling the phone that respects the ergonomics of the machine. We hope the files will become available soon for this part of the mod since electromechanical components are more interesting than the VESA mount.

We’ve taken a look at how to implement MagSafe (or Qi2) into your own projects and also a few different G4 iMac restomods whether you prefer Apple Silicon or a PC-based approach.

youtube.com/embed/CVLD5OtLygU?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/09/g4-ima…

E alla fine… Dietrofront! Trump riapre le vendite dei chip Nvidia H200 alla Cina

Sembra che alla Casa Bianca non abbiano molto le idee chiare… almeno a giudicare dall’ennesimo cambio di rotta sulla vendita dei chip avanzati di Nvidia alla Cina, con l’amministrazione Trump che dopo mesi di restrizioni ha deciso di autorizzare nuovamente l’export dell’H200 verso clienti selezionati.

Il presidente degli Stati Uniti Donald Trump ha autorizzato Nvidia a riprendere la vendita del chip avanzato H200 a una selezione di clienti in Cina, dopo mesi di restrizioni imposte nell’ambito delle tensioni tecnologiche tra Washington e Pechino. L’annuncio è arrivato l‘8 dicembre attraverso un messaggio pubblicato dal presidente sui social media, in cui ha ribadito la volontà di garantire la sicurezza nazionale, sostenere l’occupazione negli Stati Uniti e mantenere l’industria americana dell’intelligenza artificiale in una posizione di leadership globale.

La nuova disposizione non riguarda soltanto Nvidia, ma si estenderà anche ad altri produttori statunitensi di semiconduttori, tra cui AMD. La decisione arriva a pochi giorni dalla visita a Washington di Jensen Huang, amministratore delegato di Nvidia, impegnato in colloqui intensivi con l’amministrazione statunitense.

Negli ultimi mesi, Nvidia è stata al centro del confronto strategico tra Stati Uniti e Cina: le precedenti restrizioni imposte da Washington avevano bloccato l’esportazione verso Pechino dei modelli di chip più avanzati dell’azienda. A luglio, la Casa Bianca aveva già allentato parte dei vincoli, pur imponendo a Nvidia un contributo obbligatorio del 15% sui ricavi generati in Cina. In risposta, secondo fonti locali, le autorità cinesi avrebbero invitato le aziende tecnologiche nazionali a sospendere gli acquisti di chip Nvidia progettati appositamente per quel mercato.

In una dichiarazione diffusa a BBC News, Nvidia ha espresso apprezzamento per la nuova posizione dell’amministrazione statunitense, sottolineando che la possibilità di operare nel mercato cinese può contribuire alla crescita del settore manifatturiero americano e tutelare migliaia di posti di lavoro qualificati.

Il chip H200 rappresenta un prodotto di fascia alta, seppur inferiore di una generazione rispetto all’attuale piattaforma Blackwell, considerata uno degli standard più avanzati nel campo dei semiconduttori dedicati all’intelligenza artificiale. L’annuncio della Casa Bianca ha avuto un immediato impatto positivo sui mercati, con un lieve incremento del valore delle azioni Nvidia.

Trump ha precisato che, nell’ambito del nuovo accordo, il 25% dei ricavi derivanti dalle vendite approvate confluirà nelle casse degli Stati Uniti. La BBC ha chiesto ulteriori chiarimenti sul meccanismo di questo contributo, un tema che potrebbe alimentare il dibattito tra i membri del Congresso più rigidi nei confronti della Cina.

Secondo Alex Capri, docente della National University of Singapore, la riapertura alla vendita degli acceleratori H200 potrebbe consentire ai due Paesi di guadagnare tempo per affrontare questioni più delicate, come la gestione delle terre rare – materiali cruciali per la produzione di componenti elettronici, di cui Pechino detiene una posizione quasi monopolistica. Capri ha aggiunto che, pur potendo trarre vantaggio dall’accesso agli H200, la Cina continuerà a lavorare per ridurre la propria dipendenza dai chip statunitensi. In passato, le autorità cinesi avevano già invitato le imprese locali a rinunciare ai modelli H20 prodotti da Nvidia e a privilegiare semiconduttori sviluppati internamente.

Sul fronte della sicurezza, un’analisi dei ricercatori del Center for Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET) della Georgetown University segnala che l’Esercito popolare di liberazione ha già fatto ricorso a chip avanzati progettati da aziende statunitensi per rafforzare capacità militari basate sull’intelligenza artificiale. Cole McFaul, analista senior del CSET, ha affermato che l’accesso a semiconduttori più performanti potrebbe facilitare ulteriormente lo sviluppo di sistemi militari cinesi basati su IA e contribuire a rafforzare il vantaggio strategico di Pechino in scenari operativi futuri.

L'articolo E alla fine… Dietrofront! Trump riapre le vendite dei chip Nvidia H200 alla Cina proviene da Red Hot Cyber.