Ars Technica
중도 성향
IT/기술
The saga of the International Space Station air leak took a worrying turn Friday
"We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks."
IT/기술 · "ROACH" · 총 47건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 84,184건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.2(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,219건(5.0%)·중립 77,874건(92.5%)·부정 2,091건(2.5%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.8(중도 균형)입니다.
"We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks."
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The Meta hack shows there’s more to AI security than Mythos On Monday, reports emerged that attackers had used Meta’s AI customer support agent to steal Instagram accounts. Their approach was…
On June 5, 404 Media reported that attackers had been using Meta’s AI customer support agent to steal Instagram accounts. Their approach was simple: They asked the agent to link the accounts to email addresses that they controlled, and the agent complied. One attacker broke into the dormant Obama White House account and made pro-Iran…
The Missouri senator sketches a populist lane on AI that clashes with the administration’s approach.
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio warns US AI firms risk falling behind China due to their profit-driven approach. He contrasts this with China's view of AI as a public utility, aiming for widespread worker access to boost productivity. This mirrors China's successful strategy in the EV sector, prioritizing enablement over immediate profit.
Walmart placed a token limit on its internal vibe coding tool, Code Puppy, reflecting the retailer's cost-conscious approach to AI.
This sponsored article is brought to you by Black & Veatch. The biggest challenge facing utilities today isn’t what it seems. It’s not demand, even as load growth accelerates. It’s not extreme weather, even as “major events” become routine. It’s not cybersecurity, even as connections expand across the grid. The real challenge is this: Distribution systems were designed for a different reality. Long gone are the days of predictable demand, one-way power flow and isolated disruptions. At Black & Veatch, we see that leading utilities are no longer debating whether to modernize. They’re deciding how quickly they can do it, and how to do it at scale. Across grid modernization programs globally, three truths consistently emerge. They define what it takes to prepare the distribution system for what’s next: 1. Outage response is not a resilience strategy Resilience is being redefined in real time. A strategy centered on mobilizing crews and restoring service as quickly as possible is reactive, and increasingly insufficient. Resilience has to shift upstream into integrated system design. That starts with hardening. Stronger poles, undergrounding and structural upgrades all have a role, particularly in high-risk corridors. We’re also seeing meaningful gains from how the network is configured and how quickly it can respond without waiting on manual intervention. This is where distribution automation programs can change outcomes. Strategically placed reclosers, automated switches and fault indicators help contain disruptions before they spread. When combined with feeder reconfiguration and updated protection strategies, distribution automation investments allow utilities to set more aggressive recovery targets and achieve measurable reductions in outage duration and customer impact. 2. Future-readiness depends on DERs at scale Forecasting is less and less reliable. Only 19 percent of utilities report strong confidence in their ability to predict future load growth, according to the Black & Veatch 2025 Electric Report. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) like solar, storage, EVs and behind-the-meter generation are exciting solutions; but they fundamentally change how the system operates. Power is no longer just delivered. It’s injected, stored and redirected in ways the system was never designed to manage. At scale, these challenges show up quickly — particularly on feeders where distributed generation is approaching or exceeding hosting capacity. Protection coordination becomes more difficult when fault current comes from multiple directions. Voltage becomes less predictable as generation fluctuates throughout the day. And planning models must now account for highly variable, location-specific behavior. Distribution modernization is fundamentally changing how the system is designed and operated so it can absorb disruption, manage bi-directional flows and respond in real time. Adapting to bi-directional power flow requires more than incremental updates. Leading utilities are responding by building flexibility into the system, moving beyond static assumptions toward dynamic hosting capacity and interconnection studies, planning that incorporates DER, EV adoption and localized load growth, and infrastructure aligned with the communications and control needed to manage it. 3. The edge must be intelligent, visible and secure As system stress and complexity increase, utilities need far greater visibility and control over the network. Historically, utilities relied on customer calls, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) at the substation level and field crews to understand what was happening on the system. That model doesn’t hold up. You can’t effectively manage a system you can’t see. Plus, the most critical events are increasingly happening beyond the substation — on feeders, laterals, and at the edge where DER and customer behavior are interacting with the grid. Grid-edge technologies have become essential. Sensors, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and automated switching provide the raw data and control needed to move from reactive to proactive operations. In more advanced deployments, utilities are creating centralized control environments that allow operators to see and manage the distribution system in near real time. That capability is enabled by: Advanced communications networks to form the backbone of real-time grid visibility Distribution Management System (DMS) and Outage Management System (OMS) to enable faster, more coordinated system response Analytics, AI and machine learning to improve situational awareness, anticipate system conditions, and support operational decision-making The same connectivity enabling this real-time visibility and control also introduces new vulnerabilities, blurring the line between physical and cyber risk, yet many utilities manage them separately. Only 22 percent have unified teams in place, even as threats continue to rise, including a 50 percent increase in substation attacks and growing exposure to malware and ransomware, according to the Black & Veatch 2025 Electric Report. Cybersecurity and resilient network design must be embedded into the architecture from the outset—not layered on after the fact. See what bolder vision looks like Distribution modernization is fundamentally changing how the system is designed and operated so it can absorb disruption, manage bi-directional flows and respond in real time. To learn about a successful program, check out Georgia Power’s recent grid modernization program. Black & Veatch partnered with the utility on large-scale infrastructure upgrades. The results? Outages are down 76 percent, restoration times have improved by more than 80 percent and communities across Georgia are powered by a grid built to meet the future head-on. When the state faced the most destructive storm in the company’s history, Hurricane Helene, Georgia Power deployed a rapid response team that utilized its “smart grid” and restored power to more than 1 million customers within days. A grid built to meet the future head-on—that’s the result of bolder vision.
As AI continues to encroach on every aspect of our lives, there is a persistent fear or hope, depending on your angle: AI will someday take over art. The internet is full of quizzes showing that most lay people cannot tell the difference between AI-generated art (digital pictures of paintings, prose) and the real thing. […]
The Hanoi police are testing unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence to detect traffic violations, sidewalk encroachments, and illegal dumping of waste.
Gartner's Supply Chain Symposium highlights the need for a new approach to solve for decades old problems
US President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) on Tuesday, which asked technology companies to voluntarily share advanced models before they are released, signalling a shift in the administration’s largely laissez-faire approach to the industry. The voluntary framework allows the government to vet powerful new AI systems up to 30 days before their public release, but stops short of mandating review regulations, which were reportedly considered. It...
The S&P 500 and the Dow closed modestly higher on Tuesday as risk appetite driven by AI fervor was counterbalanced by tensions arising from U.S.-Iran talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the months-long war.Gains in most of the 11 major S&P sectors kept the S&P 500 and the Dow in the green, with the small-cap Russell 2000 outperforming its larger-cap peers. The Nasdaq ended the session essentially unchanged.Small-cap stocks have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of the ongoing enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence stocks, which provided some upside muscle. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index advanced on the day.The Software & Services Index, battered in recent months over worries of AI disruption, closed in negative territory.Strong results from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and a funding commitment from Alphabet reinforced confidence in the AI buildout."The market is kind of muted at the surface level, but there is a lot going on under the hood, and that describes much of this year," said Mike Dickson, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. "There's some massive dispersion in the whole AI infrastructure ecosystem.""Markets could be in for one of these heated, melt-up rallies where the momentum keeps winning," Dickson added. "I would not be surprised at all to be sitting here at the end of the summer a good bit higher."Tehran is studying a U.S. proposal to bring the war to a halt, but has not been in contact with Washington for days, according to Iranian media, which also said Iran is taking a "stern" approach, given what it views as a history of U.S. noncompliance and mutual distrust. Simultaneously, Israel is continuing its strikes on Lebanon, despite Tehran's warnings that the attacks are threatening to derail the fragile truce.The war has sent crude prices soaring, reviving worries over inflation and giving rise to an increasing likelihood that the U.S. Federal Reserve could hike interest rates by year-end. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said on Tuesday that such a hike could become necessary if already-elevated inflation pressures continue to mount. On the economic front, a report from the Labor Department showed an unexpected spike in job openings, driven by the volatile professional and business services sector. Otherwise, hiring, firing and quits all decreased, suggesting a slowdown in labor market churn in the face of uncertainties related to strife in the Middle East and inflationary effects.Analysts look to the May employment report due on Friday, which is expected to show the U.S. economy added 85,000 jobs last month, a monthly deceleration of 26.1%. The unemployment rate is forecast to stand pat at 4.3%.According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 10.07 points, or 0.13%, to end at 7,610.03 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 8.78 points, or 0.03%, to 27,095.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 237.13 points, or 0.46%, to 51,316.01.Hewlett Packard Enterprise jumped after the AI server maker pulled forward its long-term financial targets by two years. In further evidence of AI buildout, Alphabet said it was looking to raise $80 billion in equity offerings, including an investment from Berkshire Hathaway, to fund a costly expansion of its AI infrastructure. Its shares lost ground on the day. Marvell Technology's shares surged after Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next "trillion-dollar company" at the Computex conference in Taipei. Nvidia invested $2 billion in Marvell in March.A drop in bitcoin hit cryptocurrency firms Coinbase and Strategy Inc.Broadcom is expected to report quarterly results on Wednesday.
International Mathematical Union endorses warning about tech industry influence.
There are sound engineering reasons to use the same approach SpaceX uses with the Falcon 9.
Children born after 2013 are the first generation to grow up fully immersed in digital systems, which weren’t designed with them in mind. One‑third of the world’s Internet users are younger than 18, according to UNICEF, yet these systems shaping their daily lives were built for adults. They were optimized for engagement and designed long before people understood how profoundly digital environments influence children. For engineers and technical professionals, online safety is not an abstract policy debate. It is a design challenge that demands rigor, systems thinking, and ethical foresight. Governments around the world are also beginning to recognize the problem. Policymakers from across Australia, Brazil, the European Union, Indonesia, and the United States are responding to risks engineers have long understood: Addictive features, inappropriate content, opaque data practices, and algorithmic systems shape user behavior in ways that their creators did not fully predict. For years, technology moved faster than governance. Now governance is trying to catch up. Global Shift Toward Design Reform Supporting National Digital Ambitions In Athens this year I met with senior leaders of Greek government agencies and key national research institutions. Greece is moving quickly on digital transformation and responsible technology governance, and our discussions reinforced IEEE’s role as a trusted, neutral collaborator. We focused on supporting Greece’s ambitions in digital modernization and public‑sector innovation. We also discussed responsible AI and age-appropriate digital design in Europe and elsewhere. These engagements, grounded in shared values and long‑term commitment, strengthened IEEE’s presence within the European ecosystem and opened new pathways for collaboration on trustworthy AI and child‑focused digital well‑being. The European Union and the United Kingdom have been among the first to act, embedding age‑appropriate digital design into their broader children’s rights agenda. Drawing on IEEE expertise and global best practices, Indonesia is the first country in Asia, and Brazil is the first country in Latin America, to adopt age-appropriate design regulation. Australia is aiming to limit access to harmful content and addictive design features through age restrictions on certain platforms. And in the United States, in addition to federal efforts, states including California, New York, and Utah are enacting approaches including age-appropriate design principles. Across these efforts, a shared realization is emerging. Protecting children online is not simply about filtering content or adding parental controls. It requires rethinking the architecture of digital systems regarding how data is collected, how algorithms make decisions, how interfaces influence attention, and how AI interacts with the developing minds of young users. Engineers and technical professionals understand that design choices are never neutral. They encode values, incentives, and assumptions. When the user is a child, those choices carry greater weight. This is where IEEE’s work becomes more essential. Protecting Children Online For more than a decade, IEEE has been building technical and ethical foundations for safer digital experiences. The first IEEE standard on age-appropriate design in 2021 marked a turning point. It offers a structured, principled approach to designing with children’s rights in mind. The Institute’s 2022 article “Use a New IEEE Standard to Design a Safer Digital World for Kids” highlights how the standard helps translate those principles into engineering practice. Today the IEEE Standards Association’s (SA) Trustworthy Digital Experiences portfolio provides a practical, technically grounded framework for governments and industry. Spanning ethical design, data governance, algorithmic transparency, and child‑focused digital well‑being, it has already initiated discussions with government stakeholders around the world. This work helps bridge the gap between engineering realities and policy ambitions. No single country can solve these challenges alone. Many policymakers lack access to the combined expertise in technology, governance, and children’s rights needed to act quickly and effectively. This collaborative effort helps close that gap. The stakes are high. Without coordinated action, public policy will continue to lag behind technology, leaving children exposed to risks that could have been mitigated through thoughtful design. But with the right frameworks, governments can ensure digital systems respect children’s rights, support healthy development, and promote well‑being. IEEE’s emerging standards and collaborative technology policy work offer a path forward. By grounding national efforts in evidence‑based, rights-aligned design principles, IEEE is helping governments move from reactive regulation to proactive, coherent, and globally informed strategies for protecting children online. Safeguarding childhood in the digital age is both a moral imperative and an engineering challenge. And IEEE is helping to lead the way. —Mary Ellen Randall IEEE president and CEO Please share your thoughts with me: president@ieee.org. This article appears in the June 2026 print issue.
“Not in my backyard” is the rallying cry of citizens everywhere resisting projects proposed for their locality. Whether it’s affordable housing, a waste treatment plant, or a new data center, they may recognize the benefit of the activity. They just don’t want it near them. And the roots of that resistance differ from place to place. When it comes to the ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewables, companies and policymakers need to know where, exactly, people are coming from. The Italian island of Sardinia is a textbook example. As IEEE Spectrum’s power and energy editor Emily Waltz discovered when she traveled there last October, Sardinian opposition to wind and solar projects runs deep. It spurred a quarter of the voting population to queue up in public squares in 2024 to sign a petition banning all construction of renewable energy. Waltz was surprised. She went there to see a promising new grid-scale energy storage system that uses domes inflated with carbon dioxide. While reporting on that project, she interviewed residents, engineers, activists, and professors about their attitudes toward climate change and the Italian government’s grand plans for renewable energy on the island. And Waltz soon learned of Sardinians’ profound antipathy toward renewable energy and its deep ties to a history of invasion, occupation, and exploitation stretching back 2,700 years. It started with the Phoenicians and then extended through the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Iberians. Sardinia was absorbed into a newly unified Italy in 1861, and it became an autonomous region of Italy in 1948. The island’s population is justifiably suspicious of outsiders, including the Italian government. “When you’re in Sardinia, the weight of history—you can feel it like in the air,” Waltz told me. “And it gets passed down from one generation to the next.” Now, Italy needs Sardinia to produce even more power to meet the country’s climate goals—something that Sardinians see as Rome’s problem, not theirs. “Sardinia already exports about 30 percent of its electricity. It’s not like they need more,” Waltz says. “So it’s hard to make the case to build, build, build.” The result of Waltz’s old-fashioned shoe leather reporting is this month’s cover story. She notes that the Sardinians she talked to aren’t climate-change deniers, and they don’t object to renewables per se. They just don’t like the way corporations and Italian policymakers are trying to plug into Sardinia like it’s one giant battery rather than the home of an ancient and proud people. “I think Sardinians would be more receptive to renewable projects if it was more of a ground-up, grassroots approach,” Waltz says. Indeed, this homegrown approach is already working in some places in Sardinia. She knows of more than 50 projects, called energy communities, where the residents are deploying renewables themselves. The idea also holds promise for other places struggling to get locals to buy into the renewable-energy transition. The Sardinian experience is both a cautionary tale and a blueprint. Ignore the weight of history that communities carry and your project risks failure. Meet the people where they are and you might just get somewhere. The same lesson applies whether you’re in Sulawesi or sub-Saharan Africa. You just have to show up to learn it.
Alphabet's Debug initiative is seeking EPA approval to release 32 million specially treated male mosquitoes in California and Florida. This innovative approach uses Wolbachia bacteria to sterilize wild Culex mosquitoes, aiming to significantly reduce the spread of diseases like West Nile virus. Advanced AI and robotics are enabling this large-scale effort, with trials planned over two years.
Shares of Indian IT companies, including heavyweights Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Persistent Systems jumped up to 5% on Monday as multiple tailwinds boosted investor sentiment, pushing the Nifty IT index up around 3% to emerge as the top sectoral gainer.The index rose to 29,905 in the morning trading hours of Monday, extending sharp gains for the second consecutive session. The index has now jumped nearly 4% over two days.The sharp surge in IT stocks comes after a significant decline earlier this year, following the launch of plug-ins for AI startup Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent, which could automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis. "We call it the ‘SaaSpocalypse,’ an apocalypse for software-as-a-service stocks," Bloomberg quoted Jeffrey Favuzza from the equity trading desk at Jefferies as saying.While doomsday prophets continue to debate the future of IT companies following fresh AI advancements, investors were quick to analyse the cheap valuations, leading to some pockets of buying. Nuvama, in its note, had highlighted that the IT sector is setting up for a powerful comeback, not a collapse after the brutal AI-driven selloff.“We see no existential threat from Gen-AI,” the brokerage writes, arguing that enterprises will still need a “system integrator” to customise plug-and-play AI and software tools for their highly complex, brownfield technology stacks and to take ownership when “the system fails at 2 am.”Also read: Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated! Why Nuvama is screaming buy on all top 10 IT stocksThe latest round of buying also comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next month, which would be the first under Chair Kevin Warsh. US President Donald Trump had selected Warsh partly on expectations that he would support lower borrowing costs to stimulate economic growth. However, rising inflation raised questions over the possibility of lowering rates.Technical view on Nifty ITThe Nifty IT index has witnessed a strong rebound after taking support near its crucial support zone, indicating the possibility of a short-term recovery in the sector, Kunal Kamble, Senior Technical Research Analyst at Bonanza had said. “On the hourly time frame, the index is currently forming an inverse Head and Shoulders pattern. A decisive breakout is seen above the neckline of this pattern and has triggered further upside momentum in the index. Such a move is likely to positively impact heavyweight IT stocks that share a high correlation with the index, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and HCL Technologies,” he added.Technically, the analyst had suggested that if the index manages to sustain above the 29,650 mark, it may open the door for a further recovery towards the 31,280 zone in the near term. However, he added that the current price action appears to be a retracement within the broader trend rather than a complete trend reversal. Therefore, traders should approach the sector with a cautious outlook.“Aggressive or high-risk traders may consider short-term trading opportunities in select IT counters, provided the index maintains strength above key support levels. On the downside, a breach below 28,800 could once again invite selling pressure across the Nifty IT index and associated IT stocks, potentially weakening the ongoing recovery structure,” he said.IT stocksPersistent Systems shares were the top gainers on the Nifty IT index, jumping nearly 5%. Infosys shares followed, surging nearly 4%. Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, LTI Mindtree and Coforge shares gained over 3% each.Also read: Wockhardt shares rocket 19% after FDA approval for antibiotic targeting drug-resistant infectionsTata Consultancy Services (TCS) and OFSS shares jumped around 2% each, while HCL Technologies and Wipro shares gained around 1% each.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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Electrons are great. We use them to move vehicles, illuminate cities, and, of course, compute. But computation is not confined to the world of electronics. And shifting to alternative nonelectronic realms can unlock unique advantages: Photonic chips, for instance, process information with light while generating little heat. Another compelling alternative is fluidics, which uses pressurized gases or liquids to build logic circuits. Pioneered in the 1960s but sidelined by microchips, the field reemerged in the 1990s as “microfluidics.” This approach aims to shrink laboratories onto a single chip by creating microscopic fluid channels with integrated micropneumatic control systems. Today, there is a second fluidic revival, this time in the domain of soft robotics. Scaling microfluidic designs up to the millimeter-scale range (millifluidics) enables the higher flow rates necessary to drive robotic actuators. These robots exploit the nonlinear behaviors of soft materials to create lifelike motion and safer interactions, often utilizing pressurized air. By building systems that “think” with the same air that powers them, we can drastically reduce the need for bulky electronic-to-pneumatic interfaces. This is the focus of my Soiboi Studio robotics lab. With millifluidic logic, I have steadily scaled the complexity of my designs. What began with a simple oscillator has most recently evolved into a clock featuring a soft, four-digit, seven-segment display. What Is Millifluidics? Building on microfluidics research from the early 2000s and recent developments from the Grover Lab at the University of California, Riverside, I’ve developed millifluidic devices using standard 3D printing and silicone casting. The basic architecture is simple: A flexible membrane is sandwiched between rigid layers embedded with networks of air channels. Just as electronics rely on differing voltage potentials, these fluidic circuits operate on the pressure difference between atmospheric pressure (logical 0) and a near-vacuum at around −60 kilopascals of relative pressure (logical 1). Using negative pressure means the membrane is pulled into openings. This creates robust seals that allow me to replicate electronic building blocks. A cast silicone membrane forms the face of the clock [top], while behind it sits 3D-printed millifluidic blocks [middle rows]. An Arduino Uno controls driver boards that operate solenoids, which are connected to valves that are attached to a vacuum pump [bottom row].James Provost While fluidic resistors are easily realized by adjusting the channel geometry, the heart of the system is a valve that mimics a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOSFET. This vacuum “transistor” features a flow layer with two chambers (the source and drain) divided by a central valve seat and a control layer containing a cavity (the gate). A membrane runs between the control and flow layers and normally prevents airflow between the source and drain chambers. To switch the transistor on, a vacuum is applied to the gate chamber, sucking the membrane into the cavity and lifting it off the seat. This opens a path for airflow, equivalent to closing an electric circuit. By adding a small aperture to the membrane, I created a check valve—the fluidic equivalent of a diode. By combining transistors and resistive “pull-down” channels, I can build a full suite of logic gates. The original microfluidic designs that inspired me were fabricated from etched glass and milled acrylic. Adapting them for a standard 3D printer required reengineering the logic elements and mastering two critical fabrication techniques. First, I need airtight prints, yet printed plastic is notoriously porous. By printing at elevated temperatures, slow speeds, and slight overextrusion, I was able to fill microscopic gaps. When you’re using transparent filament, there’s a handy visual indicator: The more transparent the plastic appears, the lower its porosity. Second, I used glass for my print bed. By printing the upper and lower chambers directly against this bed, I got the interface surface to become mirror smooth. This finish is essential for creating reliable, airtight seals. A 0.3-millimeter silicone membrane is placed between the layers and secured with screws. How Does the Soft Clock Work? The clockface is a cast silicone membrane. Each digit segment is formed by a small underlying cavity. When air is evacuated from this cavity, the membrane is sucked inward to create a concave hollow; when atmospheric pressure is restored, the silicone pops back flush with the surface. The result is a mesmerizing, organic motion. The “brain” of the clock is an Arduino Uno, while the fluidics significantly reduce the hardware footprint. A four-digit, seven-segment display with two separator dots would require 29 solenoid valves to control directly. My clock needs just 11 valves. A pneumatic transistor is off when its upper control chamber is at atmospheric pressure [top]. When air is removed from the control chamber, it lifts a membrane, which allows air to flow between lower flow chambers and turns the transistor on [bottom]. James Provost To understand how it works, consider a standard electronic four-digit, seven-segment LED display. This also uses 11 pins to drive its digits. (In clockface displays, an additional pin is required to drive the separator dots.) Every digit is connected to a shared data bus with seven lines, one per segment. The four control lines select individual digits. Only one digit is illuminated at time, and strobing the digits at least 50 times per second creates the illusion that all four are simultaneously illuminated. Such high-speed switching is not possible with air. Instead, I rely on memory. Each segment acts like a capacitor: By evacuating its cavity (logic 1), you “charge” the segment; by restoring atmospheric pressure (logic 0), you discharge it. Hence, each digit acts as an independent 7-bit memory. If the system is sufficiently airtight, the segments maintain their state for several seconds. Like the electronic display, the system utilizes a seven-line data bus. Each line connects to a solenoid valve that provides either vacuum or atmospheric pressure. To selectively address the individual digits, I placed a fluidic transistor between each segment and its data line. All the transistors’ control inputs for a given digit are combined into one “write enable” line connected to its own solenoid valve. Activating this valve allows me to write data into the corresponding digit’s memory. The clock updates one digit per second, meaning a full cycle across the face takes 4 seconds. This cycle also drives the separator dots: A set of fluidic diodes connects the enable lines to the dots’ cavities. Consequently, as each digit is addressed, the dots pulse automatically. This display is more than a clock; it is a soft robot that happens to tell time. By offloading computation to the same air that powers movement, the clock approaches a new class of machines that are simpler, lighter, and more integrated. I’m now developing a guide for getting started with vacuum-powered logic and may release a refined version of this clock in the future. Watching the silicone skin morph serves as a fascinating reminder that not all logic needs silicon; sometimes, all you need is flexible silicone and a flow of air. This article appears in the June 2026 print issue as “The Soft Clock.”