Sony has unveiled a new type of stacked CMOS sensor that uses "two-layer transistor pixels" to double the light gathering capability. Typical image sensors have the light-sensitive photodiodes and pixel transistors that control and amplify the signal on the same layer. However, the new design puts the photodiodes on top and the pixel transistors below, "approximately doubling saturation signal levels," Sony said. 

Sony pioneered stacked sensors that put fast memory and other electronics directly under the sensor, allowing for faster readout speeds and thus rapid burst shooting and reduced rolling shutter (jello effect) on cameras and smartphones. This latest sensor uses a similar idea, but packs the pixel transistors onto a separate substrate underneath the photodiode layer.

Sony

That means each layer could be optimized, allowing Sony to double the sensor's light saturation (well depth), or the amount of charge each pixel can hold. That in turn allows for around double the light-capturing capability.

Sony notes that because the transistor pixels sit on a separate layer, it was able to boost the amplifier transistors in size. That allows for a bigger signal boost, reducing noise when shooting nighttime or other images in dark locations. The increased dynamic range will allow for "high-quality, low-noise images even in low-light," according to Sony. 

Sony specifically stated that the tech will allow for higher-quality smartphone photography. With double the light gathering capability, it will allow for much improved light sensitivity even in relatively small, high-megapixel sensors. Sony has yet to say when this tech will make it to smartphone or cameras, but it plans to further improve the design for both large and small sensors. 

Sony

LG has unveiled its latest high-end UltraFine OLED 4K monitors aimed at pros and this time it has a smaller version that should be more affordable. On top of that, the new models come with more accessories to make calibration and working in bright rooms easier. 

The 32-inch model appears to be much the same as before, with features like a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, true 10-bit color, 60Hz refresh rate and 99 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. As before, it also conforms to the VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black standard for OLED displays. 

The relative lack of brightness and huge contrast ratio shows the compromises and benefits of an OLED display for content creators, in a nutshell. On the one hand, with 400 nits of brightness the UltraFine OLED is barely adequate for doing HDR color grading compared to much brighter (1,000 nit+) mini-LED displays like Apple's $5,000 Pro Display XDR or the $5,000 ASUS ProArt PA32UCG-K display.

LG/Yi Cheol

On the other, LG's OLED display has much better contrast, perfect blacks and zero blooming because each pixel illuminates individually. That feature can give color professionals a much better idea of the true contrast in an image. So in essence, buyers have to make a tough choice between brightness and contrast, both of which are important for color work these days — particularly with video. 

The new 27-inch model will attract folks who want the benefits of OLED and the other pro features (10-bit color, 99 percent DCI-P3 and a 1,000,0000:1 contrast ratio) at a lower price. Both displays also offer features like a clean professional design, USB-C with 90W power delivery and four USB ports. It also comes a pair of DisplayPort inputs and one HDMI port. LG's doesn't say what kind for the latter, so it's likely not HDMI 2.1 — though that's not crucial for content creation pros. 

The biggest upgrade over last year is that both monitors include a color calibration sensor (LG didn't say which one), along with its LG Calibration Studio software. They also come with a monitor hood so you can better control the image depending on room lighting. LG hasn't released the pricing yet, but its current 32-inch UltraFine Display OLED Pro Monitor costs a cool $4,000, so expect to see a similar price on the new model. The 27-inch version, meanwhile, will likely be north of $2K.

Google researchers have described NSO Group's zero-click exploit used to hack Apple devices as "incredible and terrifying," Wired has reported. Project Zero researchers called it "one of the most technically sophisticated exploits we've ever seen" that's on par with attacks from elite nation-state spies. 

The Project Zero team said it obtained one of NSO's Pegasus exploits from Citizen Lab, which managed to capture it via a targeted Saudi activist. It also worked with Apple's Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR) group on the technical analysis.

NSO's original exploit required the user to click on a link, but the latest, most sophisticated exploits require no click at all. Called ForcedEntry, it takes advantage of the way iMessage interprets files like GIFs to open a malicious PDF file with no action required from the victim. It does so by using old code from the 1990s used to process text in scanner images.

Once inside a device, the malware can set up its own virtualized environment and run javascript-like code, with no need to connect to an outside server. From there, it gives an attacker access to a victim's passwords, microphone, audio and more. The exploit is extremely hard to detect and is "a weapon against which there is no defense," Project Zero researchers said.

Apple recently filed a lawsuit against the group to "hold it accountable" for governments using it to spy on iOS users. Apple alleged that targets are often activists, journalists and other critics of regimes that routinely suppress political dissent. It also accused NSO of "flagrant violations" of federal- and state-level laws in the US. Last month, the US Department of Commerce added NSO Group to its "entity list", essentially banning it for use in the US.

Going camping or hiking just got cuter thanks to a new Citroën concept car based on its micro Ami EV. The My Ami Buggy is based on the Ami we all know and love, but adds some practical and stylistic touches like wider knobby tires, an LED light bar and removable canvas doors. 

The buggy is mainly a way for Citroën's designers to show off their chops by adding "stylish attributes to assert its intrepid and friendly backpacker personality," according to the company. As such, they drew inspiration from things like construction games, industrial design and fashion.

To be sure, it looks like your ten-year-old's idea of a buggy, assuming the kid had some design talent. The khaki, black and yellow color scheme is the first attention-grabbing feature, giving it an outdoorsy camouflage feel and yet high visibility.

Another key feature is the doors, or lack thereof. The regular ones have been replaced by removable canvas doors with zippers, bringing some much-needed air circulation and buggy allure. The knobbier and wider tires will let you take it onto rougher roads, though remember that ground clearance isn't amazing. It also has headlight protectors and a spare knobby tire mounted on the roof that "emphasize the concept's spirit of adventure" and ratchet up the cuteness factor. 

Copyright maison-vignaux @ Continental Productions

Other additions include an LED lightbar, removable "nomadic speaker," a roof cap to protect against the sun and a graphics package that includes the words "Pilot" and "01" on the driver's seat and "Copilot" and "02" on the passenger seat. It also offers thicker memory foam in the seats, new storage bins on the dashboard and even a range of luggage designed to "fit perfectly into the vehicle's interior spaces," according to Citroën. Other features like smartphone clamps, bottle holders and more were all built using 3D printing so that they can be reproduced on demand. 

As a reminder, the Ami can hit a top speed of 28 MPH and go 44 miles on its 5.5 kWh battery. It's also legal for teenagers 14 and older to drive in France and elsewhere in Europe. The company's designers must have had a lot of fun with the My Ami Buggy concept, but there's no word yet on whether Citroën will ever build and sell it — though the kid in all of us certainly hopes so. 

Developer CD Projekt has reportedly agreed to pay $1,850,000 to settle an investor lawsuit over the buggy launch of Cyberpunk 2077, The Verge has reported. That's a fairly tiny sum next to the game's reported $316 million development budget and the fact it was an instant hit last year with eight million pre-orders. The settlement is still preliminary and must be approved by a court.

The lawsuit was effectively four separate actions combined into one, brought by shareholders who alleged that the company misled them about financial performance. It's not clear why the settlement was relatively low, however. CD Projekt's shares have dropped 54 percent since the game's release, and analysts have lowered Cyberpunk 2077 sales forecasts significantly, according to Bloomberg.

On top of that, CD Projekt has delayed the much-anticipated next-gen console updates for Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 for the end of 2021 until the first quarter of 2022. "Apologies for the extended wait, but we wanted to make it right," the company said. The developer released a Cyberpunk DLC in August, but it only added a few cosmetic items and a car. 

The Parker Solar Probe has become the first spacecraft to fly through the Sun's upper atmosphere or corona, NASA announced. In April, it passed within 15 solar radii (around 6.5 million miles) from the Sun's surface in a region where magnetic fields dominate solar conditions. "Parker Solar Probe 'touching the Sun' is a monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat," said NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen. 

The Sun has a superheated atmosphere called the corona (visible from Earth only during a solar eclipse) that's bound to it by gravity and magnetic fields. At a certain limit called the Alfvén critical surface, materials are able to escape those forces and become part of the solar wind, permanently severing their connection to the Sun.

Scientists have estimated that the corona is between 10 to 20 solar radii from the Sun's surface, or around 4.3 to 8.6 million miles. The Parker Solar probe detected the specific magnetic and particle conditions required for the corona at around 18.8 solar radii, or around 8.1 million miles. It passed in and out of the boundary several times, proving that the Alfvén critical surface has spikes and valleys and isn't shaped like a smooth ball.

Inside that region, the probe encountered features called pseudostreamers, or massive structures rising above the Sun's surface visible during solar eclipses. Flying through the objects was like "flying into the eye of the storm" because of the quieter conditions and slowing particles, NASA said.

It also made observations that may helped scientists figure out where "switchbacks," or kinks in the solar wind form. It detected bursts of switchbacks as it passed closer to the sun, and scientists were able to trace those back to the visible surface. Specifically, they found that some types of "fast" switchbacks form in the magnetic funnels created between convection cells on the sun's surface. 

The probe has not only made the closest-ever pass by the sun, it's traveling at the greatest speed of any manmade object ever, currently around 430,000 MPH. The next close pass will happen in January 2022, when scientists will try to determine exactly how switchbacks and other solar phenomena form. "Such measurements from the corona will be critical for understanding and forecasting extreme space weather events that can disrupt telecommunications and damage satellites around Earth," NASA wrote.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is offering up to $5,000 bug bounties under a new program called Hack DHS, it announced. Vetted security researchers invited by the agency will get access to select external DHS systems to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors. Payments will vary between $500 and $5,000 depending on the severity of the bug.

"As the federal government’s cybersecurity quarterback, DHS must lead by example and constantly seek to strengthen the security of our own systems," said DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. "The Hack DHS program incentivizes highly skilled hackers to identify cybersecurity weaknesses in our systems before they can be exploited by bad actors."

The program will roll out in three phases, with hackers first doing virtual assessments of systems. That will be followed by a live, in-person hacking event for the second phase, and in the third phase, the DHS will "identify and review lessons learned, and plan for future bug bounties," it wrote. 

Some of the major players we haven’t seen as active as previously. That doesn’t mean that they’ve gone away, that we’ve defeated them. They very well might have hit the pause button. Vigilance has to remain at an incredibly high level.

The program will use a platform developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and monitored by the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer. That department will verify any bugs within 48 hours and either fix them or develop a plan to do so within 15 days.

Private industry generally offers much higher bug bounties, with companies like Microsoft and Apple offering payouts as high as $1 million. However, Hack DHS isn't an open bounty program so it's limited to a smaller pool of researchers.

The DHS said that attacks against it were up fourfold in 2021 but that some of the most dangerous groups have slowed down. "Some of the major players we haven’t seen as active as previously," Mayorkas said at Bloomberg's Technology Summit. "That doesn’t mean that they’ve gone away, that we’ve defeated them. They very well might have hit the pause button. Vigilance has to remain at an incredibly high level."

The US government will place eight Chinese companies including drone manufacturer DJI on an investment blocklist for alleged involvement in surveillance of Uyghur Muslims, the Financial Times has reported. The firms will reportedly be put on the Treasure department's "Chinese military-industrial complex companies" list on Tuesday, meaning US citizens will be barred from making any investments. 

DJI is already on the Department of Commerce's Entity list, meaning American companies can't sell it components unless they have a license. At the time, the government said it was among companies that "enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance." However, unlike products from Huawei and others, DJI drones are have not been banned for sale in the US. 

The latest moves are part of an effort by US President Joe Biden to sanction China for repression of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. Others that will be added to the list include cloud computing firms and facial recognition companies that operate in Xinjiang.

Yesterday, the US House and Senate passed a bill that would ban imports from Xinjiang, unless companies could prove they were not made using forced labor. It's set for a vote in the upper chamber of Congress prior to a holiday recess.

Xiaomi was placed on the same investment blocklist early in 2021. However, it fought the decision, saying that none of its principals were connected with the Chinese military and that a lack of US investment would lead to "immediate and irreparable harm." In May, the government agreed to lift the ban. 

In 2020, DJI commanded a massive 77 percent of the consumer drone market. Over the last two months, it has released a pair of key products, the large-sensor Mavic 3 drone and full-frame Ronin 4D cinema camera with a built-in gimbal and LiDAR focus system. A year ago, DJI said it had "done nothing to justify being placed on the Entity list," and that "customers in America can continue to buy and use DJI products normally."

Working with Intel, Dell has created a new laptop called Concept Luna with the aim of making future PCs easier to repair, reuse and recycle. Dell said that if it incorporated all the design ideas, it could reduce a computer's carbon footprint by up to 50 percent compared to current laptop models.

A key feature of Concept Luna is the redesigned components and a new, more efficient layout. To start with, the motherboard is 75 percent smaller at just 5,580 square millimeters and has a 20 percent lower component count. Everything is rearranged, with the motherboard close to the top cover to expose it to a larger cooling area. It's also separated from the battery charging unit in the base, allowing better passive cooling that could eliminate the need for a fan. 

Dell

The extra efficiencies also reduce power requirements, allowing the designers to use a smaller battery with deep-cycle cells that offer a "long charge that can be maintained across many years of use, increasing refurbishment and reuse beyond the first product life it services," Dell said. 

On top of making the design more power efficient, Dell designers used less energy-intensive materials that are easier to recycle. The aluminum body, for instance, was processed using hydro power and a more efficient stamped construction. Dell also reduced the number of screws by tenfold, "with just four needed to access internal components." That not only reduces material count, but repair time (to disassemble, repair and reassemble key components) by around 1.5 hours. 

Dell

Other features include a palm rest that's easy to repair and reuse, a keyboard mechanism that can be easily separated for replacement and recycling, and a bio-based printed circuit board (PCB) made with flax fiber in the base and water-soluble polymer as glue. "What's notable here is that the flax fiber replaces traditional plastic laminates... [and] the water-soluble polymer can 'dissolve,'" making for easier recycling. 

Concept Luna is far from the first green laptop concept. Framework, for example, recently demonstrated an easy-to-repair laptop with features like removable ports and components that are labeled so you can repair it yourself. 

Dell might not be the most-loved PC company in terms of customer service, but it frequently tops corporate charts for environmentally-friendly initiatives. Creating a concept that points the way to easy-to-fix, more recyclable PCs is a solid step toward reducing plastic waste and pollution in the PC industry. Now, Dell plans to take the best ideas from Concept Luna "and evaluate which have the greatest potential to scale across our product portfolio," the company wrote. 

To the consternation of some owners, Toyota's remote start key fob functionality requires a paid $8 per month subscription service, The Drive has discovered. The issue only applies to 2018 and later models, but recently came to light as the free trials of Toyota's Remote Connect subscription started to expire. 

Toyota lets you start vehicles like the RAV 4 PHEV remotely in two ways. One is over WiFi/LTE using its Remote Connect apps that cost $8 per month or $80 per year. The other is by using the key fob, which requires that you be relatively close to the vehicle.

Unless they read the fine print, however, owners may not have known that the key fob method was also part of the Remote Connect subscription. Toyota confirmed to The Drive that you'll need a paid subscription on every 2018 and newer Toyota model to use the function.

Complicating the situation is that most buyers received a free three-year or 10-year Remote Connect trial depending on whether they had the Audio Plus or Premium Audio trim options. So for at least the first three years of ownership, the remote key fob start method would have worked without a hitch — but it's now expiring for 2018 models.

The issue was originally spotted by car shopping site CoPilot last summer. Owners are particularly irked that Toyota has linked the key fob remote start function to Remote Connect, since the key fob doesn't require an app in any way. What might be extra galling is that the limitation doesn't apply to pre-2018 cars, because Toyota didn't want to update them from 3G to LTE networks. 

Toyota isn't the first automaker to charge for key features on top of the price of the car. Mercedes also requires a subscription in Europe for rear-wheel steering in its new EQS electric car. And after charging buyers a monthly fee for Apple CarPlay, BMW backtracked and included the feature for free.