ICT news

• Nearly Half of Parents Worry Their Child Is Addicted To Mobile Devices, Study Finds

  22-02-2018 23:50 via rss.slashdot.org
  According to a new survey from Common Sense Media and SurveyMonkey, 47% of parents worry their child is addicted to their mobile device. By comparison, only 32% of parents say they're addicted themselves. USA Today reports: Half of parents also say they are at least somewhat concerned about how mobile devices will affect their kids' mental health. Nearly one in five say they're "extremely" or "very" concerned. According to the survey, 89% of parents believe it's up to them to curb their children
  
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• Elon Musk Steps Down From AI Safety Group To Avoid Conflict of Interest With Tesla

  22-02-2018 23:10 via rss.slashdot.org
  New submitter the gmr writes: According to an announcement on the OpenAI blog, Elon Musk has stepped down from the board of directors of the nonprofit AI safety group, which he co-founded in 2015, due potential conflict of interest with his company Tesla. As explained in a post on Futurism, the move away from OpenAI may indicate that Tesla may be moving forward with more AI projects than most people may realize. Musk's departure may mean that Tesla is closer to delivering vehicles capable of Lev
  
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• President Trump: 'We Have To Do Something' About Violent Video Games, Movies

  22-02-2018 22:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In a White House meeting held with lawmakers on the theme of school safety, President Donald Trump offered both a direct and vague call to action against violence in media by calling out video games and movies. "We have to do something about what [kids are] seeing and how they're seeing it," Trump said during the meeting. "And also video games. I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is shaping more and more
  
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• Three Class-Action Lawsuits Target AMD Over Spectre Vulnerability

  22-02-2018 22:05
  Three class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of consumers who purchased AMD's processors in the time between the discovery and disclosure of the Spectre vulnerability.
  
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• Botched npm Update Crashes Linux Systems, Forces Users to Reinstall

  22-02-2018 21:50 via rss.slashdot.org
  Catalin Cimpanu, reporting for BleepingComputer: A bug in npm (Node Package Manager), the most widely used JavaScript package manager, will change ownership of crucial Linux system folders, such as /etc, /usr, /boot. Changing ownership of these files either crashes the system, various local apps, or prevents the system from booting, according to reports from users who installed npm v5.7.0. -- the buggy npm update. Users who installed this update -- mostly developers and software engineers -- wil
  
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• Taiwan To Ban Plastic Straws, Cups and Shopping Bags By 2030

  22-02-2018 21:10 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Taiwan is planning a blanket ban on single-use plastic items including straws, cups and shopping bags by 2030, officials said Thursday, with restaurants facing new restrictions from next year. It is the latest push by Taiwan to cut waste and pollution after introducing a recycling programme and charges for plastic bags. The island's eco-drive has also extended to limiting the use of incense at temples and festivals to protect public health. Its new plan will
  
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• Asus, HP Debut Snapdragon-Powered Windows Laptops (Update: Also Lenovo, And They're Coming)

  22-02-2018 21:05
  Qualcomm and its partners debuted the world’s first Snapdragon-powered Windows laptops from its 2nd annual Snapdragon Technology Summit from Maui, Hawaii.
  
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• Arm Reveals More Details About Its IoT Platform Security Architecture

  22-02-2018 20:45
  Arm announced documentation for the first stage of its Platform Security Architecture for IoT devices, which includes threat models and security analyses. The company also offered more details about its PSA roadmap.
  
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• Venezuela Says Its Cryptocurrency Raised $735 Million -- But It's a Farce

  22-02-2018 20:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed that a new state-sponsored cryptocurrency called the petro raised $735 million on the first day of its sale. ArsTechnica dives deep on the matter to suggest that it's all a farce. From the report: The government hasn't provided any way to independently verify that $735 million figure. And there's reason to doubt almost everything the Venezuelan government has said about the project. Moreover, there's little reason to believe that the
  
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• Disney Loses in Redbox Copyright Row

  22-02-2018 19:49 via rss.slashdot.org
  Disney has lost a bid to stop movie rental company Redbox from reselling download codes for its films. From a report: Redbox bought Disney movies on DVD to offer for rental in its kiosks. The DVDs were often bundled with a code to download a copy of the film. Disney requested an injunction to stop the practice, saying that Redbox had no business arrangement with it. A California federal judge accused Disney of "copyright misuse." Redbox rents and sells movies via tens of thousands of automated k
  
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• Uber Will 'Invest Aggressively' In India And Southeast Asia, CEO Says

  22-02-2018 19:07 via rss.slashdot.org
  Pranav Dixit, writing for BuzzFeed News: Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's CEO of six months, said on Thursday that the ride-hailing service would continue to invest aggressively in both Southeast Asia and India, where the company is losing money and faces strong competition from local players like Grab and Ola. Uber has been slow to expand its presence in India and Southeast Asia, allowing competitors to quickly gain ground. Singapore's Grab, for instance, claimed to have 95% of the country's ride-hail
  
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• Intel, Microsoft, Dell, HP and Lenovo Expect PCs With Fast 5G Wireless To Ship Next Year

  22-02-2018 18:20 via rss.slashdot.org
  Intel, along with Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft said Thursday that the companies expect the first 5G Windows PCs to become available during the second half of 2019. From a report: That's about the same time that Intel plans to begin shipping its XMM 8000 commercial modems, marking the company's entrance into the 5G market. Intel will show off a prototype of the new 5G connected PC at Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. In addition the company will demonstrate data streaming over the 5G ne
  
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• SEC Warns Against Selling Stock During Security Incidents

  22-02-2018 18:15
  The SEC issued a new warning reminding companies that their executives should not sell stocks in the middle of private security incident investigations, before the security incident is made public.
  
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• 'Warcraft III' PTR Update Brings 24-Player Limit, World Editor Improvements

  22-02-2018 18:00
  Blizzard is also hosting a 14-player tournament at the end of the month.
  
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• Amazon May Open Up To Six More Automated Stores This Year

  22-02-2018 17:40 via rss.slashdot.org
  Amazon may have opened its automated convenience store a year late, but it looks like it's been a pretty big success. From a report: Recode learned that the company plans on opening six more of its Amazon Go stores in 2018. It's not clear where these stores will be located, though Recode reports that more locations are likely in Seattle, and Amazon is in talks with the developer of The Grove in Los Angeles. Amazon Go is billed as the convenience store of the future. There are no checkout lines;
  
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• Net Neutrality Rules Die on April 23

  22-02-2018 16:42 via rss.slashdot.org
  The Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules will be no more in two months, as the agency takes the final step in removing the regulation from its rule book. From a report: The date -- April 23 -- was revealed today after the Federal Communication Commission's order revoking net neutrality was published in the Federal Register. You can read the full order here. The publication means that a new fight around net neutrality is about to begin. States and other parties will be able to
  
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• Twitter Updates Developer Rules in the Wake of Bot Crackdown

  22-02-2018 16:20 via rss.slashdot.org
  Twitter is getting serious about its bot problem. From a report: Hours after a massive bot purge that prompted the #TwitterLockOut hashtag to trend, the company is announcing new rules for developers meant to prevent bots from using third-party apps to spread spam. According to the new rules, developers that use Twitter's API will no longer be able to let users: Simultaneously post identical or substantially similar content to multiple accounts. Simultaneously perform actions such as Likes, Retw
  
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• SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 9 Carrying Starlink Demo Satellites

  22-02-2018 15:40 via rss.slashdot.org
  SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base today, its first launch since its successful Falcon Heavy test earlier this month. The launch took off early Wednesday morning, after being rescheduled a couple of times from an initial target of this past weekend. From a report: The launch was primarily designed to bring the PAZ satellite to orbit (which was deployed as planned into a low Earth, sun-synchronous polar orbit), a satellite for a Spanish customer th
  
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• Epic Games Details New Features For 'Fortnite' Version 3.0 (Updated)

  22-02-2018 15:40
  Season three will feature building improvements, a change to the pump shotgun, and a new Battle Pass.
  
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• Epic Games Details New Features For 'Fortnite' Version 3.0

  22-02-2018 15:40
  Season three will feature building improvements, a change to the pump shotgun, and a new Battle Pass.
  
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• Corsair Obsidian Series 500D Mid-Tower Case Review

  22-02-2018 15:00
  
  Corsair, which needs no introduction in the tech community, has rolled out the latest installment in its Obsidian line of premium computer chassis.
  
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• A Biohacker Regrets Publicly Injecting Himself With CRISPR

  22-02-2018 15:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  Sarah Zhang, reporting for The Atlantic: When Josiah Zayner watched a biotech CEO drop his pants at a biohacking conference and inject himself with an untested herpes treatment, he realized things had gone off the rails. Zayner is no stranger to stunts in biohacking -- loosely defined as experiments, often on the self, that take place outside of traditional lab spaces. You might say he invented their latest incarnation: He's sterilized his body to "transplant" his entire microbiome in front of a
  
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• Uber Launches 'Express Pool' To Get More Riders To Share Rides

  22-02-2018 14:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Recode: Uber is beginning to roll out a cheaper version of its ride-sharing UberPool service, called Express Pool. The service, which was being tested in Boston and San Francisco, is now available in Los Angeles, San Diego and Denver, and will launch in Miami, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., tomorrow. The idea is that Express Pool, which requires riders to walk a little to meet their driver -- and then again to their destination after being dropped off
  
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• Bigelow Launching New Company To Sell Private Space Stations

  22-02-2018 11:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  hyperclocker shares a report from Popular Mechanics: The future of spacecraft in lower Earth orbit (LEO) looks to be an increasingly commercial affair. Bigelow Aerospace, a Las Vegas-based company that builds livable space habitats, has now created a spinoff company known as Bigelow Space Operations (BSO). BSO will market and operate any space habitats that Bigelow sells. The creation of BSO signals that Bigelow is preparing for a future of commercial space living. Recently leaked NASA documents
  
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• Amazon Is Developing a TV Series Based On Iain M. Banks' Sci-Fi Novel 'Consider Phlebas'

  22-02-2018 08:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  leathered writes: Jeff Bezos today announced that Amazon Studios has picked up the rights to adapt the late Iain M. Bank's acclaimed Culture novels to the small screen, beginning with the first in the series, Consider Phlebas. This comes after nearly three decades of attempts to bring Banks' utopian, post-scarcity society to film or television. A huge fan of the Culture series is Elon Musk, whose SpaceX drone ships are named after Culture space vessels. Here's how Amazon describes Consider Phleb
  
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• Boston Dynamics Is Teaching Its Robot Dog To Fight Back Against Humans

  22-02-2018 04:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  Zorro shares a report from The Guardian: Boston Dynamics' well-mannered four-legged machine SpotMini has already proved that it can easily open a door and walk through unchallenged, but now the former Google turned SoftBank robotics firm is teaching its robo-canines to fight back. A newly released video shows SpotMini approaching the door as before, but this time it's joined by a pesky human with an ice hockey stick. Unperturbed by his distractions, SpotMini continues to grab the handle and turn
  
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• Former Google Employee Files Lawsuit Alleging the Company Fired Him Over Pro-Diversity Posts

  22-02-2018 02:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  According to court documents filed today, a former Google engineer is suing the company for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. "Tim Chevalier, a software developer and former site-reliability engineer at Google, claims that Google fired him when he responded with internal posts and memes to racist and sexist encounters within the company and the general response to the now-infamous James Damore memo," reports The Verge. From the report: Chevalier said in a stateme
  
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• Scientists Discover a New Way To Use DNA As a Storage Device

  22-02-2018 01:50 via rss.slashdot.org
  Mark Wilson shares a report from BetaNews: Researchers from the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in Ireland have developed a way to use bacteria to archive up to up to one zettabyte in one gram of DNA. The technique uses double-strained DNA molecules called plasmids to encode data which is stored in the Novablue strain of the E Coli bacteria. The Novablue bacteria has a fixed location, making it viable for storage, and the data can be transferred by releasing a mobile HB101 strain of E Co
  
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• Game Industry Pushes Back Against Efforts To Restore Gameplay Servers

  22-02-2018 01:10 via rss.slashdot.org
  Kyle Orland reports via Ars Technica: A group of video game preservationists wants the legal right to replicate "abandoned" servers in order to re-enable defunct online multiplayer gameplay for study. The game industry says those efforts would hurt their business, allow the theft of their copyrighted content, and essentially let researchers "blur the line between preservation and play." Both sides are arguing their case to the U.S. Copyright Office right now, submitting lengthy comments on the s
  
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• IC3 Issues Alert on Increase in W-2 Phishing Campaigns

  22-02-2018 00:31 via us-cert.gov
  Original release date: February 21, 2018The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued an alert on the increase in W-2-related phishing campaigns. Fraudsters often use tax-related phishing emails to get victims to provide personally identifiable information, click on a malicious link, or pay a ransom.NCCIC/US-CERT encourages taxpayers to review the IC3 Alert and refer to the NCCIC/US-CERT Tip on Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more information. If you believe you have
  
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• Apple In Talks To Buy Cobalt Directly From Miners

  22-02-2018 00:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple Inc. is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt directly from miners for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter, seeking to ensure it will have enough of the key battery ingredient amid industry fears of a shortage driven by the electric vehicle boom. The iPhone maker is one of the world's largest end users of cobalt for the batteries in its gadgets, but until now it has left the business of buying the metal to
  
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