ICT news

• Climate Change Could Cross Key Threshold in a Decade, Scientists Say

  24-10-2016 20:40 via rss.slashdot.org
  
  The planet could pass a key target on world temperature rise in about a decade, prompting accelerating loss of glaciers, steep declines in water availability, worsening land conflicts and deepening poverty, scientists said this week. But the planet is already two-thirds of the way to that lower and safer goal, and could begin to pass it in about a decade, according to Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre. Reuters reports: With world emissions unlik
  
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• Crypto Trader Eisenberg Convicted of Fraud in $110 Million Mango Markets Scheme

  18-04-2024 22:01 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A jury found Avraham "Avi" Eisenberg guilty on all three counts of fraud and manipulation in a $110 million crypto trade scheme using the Mango Markets platform. Axios: The case was the first known test for a jury to decide whether existing U.S. laws governing fraud and market manipulation apply to the world of decentralized finance (DeFi). The 28-year-old Eisenberg will be held to account for his actions on Oct. 11, 2022, when a series of trades he made intentionally boosted the price of Mango
  
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• Boeing Aims To Bring Flying Cars To Asia By 2030

  18-04-2024 21:22 via news.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing plans to enter the flying car business in Asia by 2030, looking to tap demand for the fast travel the vehicles could provide in the region's traffic-choked cities. Nikkei: Boeing Chief Technology Officer Todd Citron revealed the plans in an interview with Nikkei. The company is developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft at subsidiary Wisk Aero. The aircraft will adopt autonomous technology, rare among eVTOL craft. The plan is to first obtain
  
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• Nigeria To Criminalise Fiber Cable Damage Costing Telecoms Billions

  18-04-2024 20:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Nigeria will criminalize the destruction of broadband fiber cables following repeated complaints by MTN Nigeria and other telecommunications companies that they are losing billions of naira, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: Nigeria's works ministry, which supervises federal road constructors, is finalizing the regulation that will be signed as an executive order by President Bola Tinubu, said the people, asking not to be identified as they weren't
  
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• Author Granted Copyright Over Book With AI-Generated Text - With a Twist

  18-04-2024 20:00 via slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. Copyright Office has granted a copyright registration to Elisa Shupe, a retired U.S. Army veteran, for her novel "AI Machinations: Tangled Webs and Typed Words," which extensively used OpenAI's ChatGPT in its creation. The registration is among the first for creative works incorporating AI-generated text, but with a significant caveat - Shupe is considered the author of the "selection, coordination, and arrangement" of the AI-generated content, not the text itself.
  Shupe, who writes und
  
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• Hackers Are Threatening To Publish a Huge Stolen Sanctions and Financial Crimes Watchlist

  18-04-2024 19:22 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A financially motivated criminal hacking group says it has stolen a confidential database containing millions of records that companies use for screening potential customers for links to sanctions and financial crime. The hackers, which call themselves GhostR, said they stole 5.3 million records from the World-Check screening database in March and are threatening to publish the data online.
  World-Check is a screening database used for "know your customer" che
  
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• Meta Releases Llama 3 AI Models, Claiming Top Performance

  18-04-2024 18:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta debuted a new version of its powerful Llama AI model, its latest effort to keep pace with similar technology from companies like OpenAI, X and Google. The company describes Llama 3 8B and Llama 3 70B, containing 8 billion and 70 billion parameters respectively, as a "major leap" in performance compared to their predecessors.
  Meta claims that the Llama 3 models, trained on custom-built 24,000 GPU clusters, are among the best-performing generative AI models available for their respective para
  
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• Google is Combining Its Android and Hardware Teams

  18-04-2024 18:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced substantial internal reorganizations on Thursday, including the creation of a new team called "Platforms and Devices" that will oversee all of Google's Pixel products, all of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more. From a report: The team will be run by Rick Osterloh, who was previously the SVP of devices and services, overseeing all of Google's hardware efforts. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the longtime head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS, will be taking on othe
  
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• Canadian Science Gets Biggest Boost To PhD and Postdoc Pay in 20 Years

  18-04-2024 17:24 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers in Canada got most of what they were hoping for in the country's 2024 federal budget, with a big boost in postgraduate pay and more funding for research and scientific infrastructure. From a report: "We are investing over $5 billion in Canadian brainpower," said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her budget speech on 16 April. "More funding for research and scholarships will help Canada attract the next generation of game-changing thinkers."
  Postgraduate students and postdoctoral
  
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• Odds of US TikTok Ban Increase After House Fast-Tracks Revised Bill, Picking Up Key Senate Support

  18-04-2024 16:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. lawmakers have moved closer to enacting a countrywide ban on TikTok. From a report: Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill by a wide margin that would ban distribution of TikTok in U.S. unless TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance, sells its ownership in the app within 165 days of the law's enactment. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a new proposal that would extend the sale requirement deadline to nine months, with a potential for a 90-day extension -- addressin
  
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• US Air Force Confirms First Successful AI Dogfight

  18-04-2024 16:07 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The US Air Force is putting AI in the pilot's seat. In an update on Thursday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed that an AI-controlled jet successfully faced a human pilot during an in-air dogfight test carried out last year. From a report: DARPA began experimenting with AI applications in December 2022 as part of its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program. It worked to develop an AI system capable of autonomously flying a fighter jet, while also adhering to the Air Force
  
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• Google Terminates 28 Employees For Protest of Israeli Cloud Contract

  18-04-2024 15:07 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google said on Thursday it had terminated 28 employees after some staff participated in protests against the company's cloud contract with the Israeli government. From a report: The Alphabet unit said a small number of protesting employees entered and disrupted work at a few unspecified office locations. "Physically impeding other employees' work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior," the company said in a st
  
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• Oracle Releases Critical Patch Update Advisory for April 2024

  18-04-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Oracle released its quarterly Critical Patch Update Advisory for April 2024 to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. A cyber threat actor could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. 
  Users and administrators are encouraged to review the following Critical Patch Update Advisory and apply the necessary updates:  April 2024 Critical Patch Update Advisory
  
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• Inside Amazon's Secret Operation To Gather Intel on Rivals

  18-04-2024 14:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon staff went undercover on Walmart, eBay and other marketplaces as a third-party seller called "Big River," WSJ reports. The mission: to scoop up information on pricing, logistics and other business practices. From the report: For nearly a decade, workers in a warehouse in Seattle's Denny Triangle neighborhood have shipped boxes of shoes, beach chairs, Marvel T-shirts and other items to online retail customers across the U.S. The operation, called Big River Services International, sells aro
  
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• CISA and Partners Release Advisory on Akira Ransomware

  18-04-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), and the Netherlands’ National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NL) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Akira Ransomware, to disseminate known Akira ransomware tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) identified through FBI investigations as recently as February 2024.
  Evolving from an initial focus on Windows systems to a Linu
  
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• Is 8GB of RAM Enough For a Mac?

  18-04-2024 12:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Apple is doubling down on 8GB of RAM for many of its entry-level Macs, claiming that it's "suitable for many tasks," including browsing, video streaming and even "light" video and image editing. As of this writing, all MacBook Air laptops, the Mac Mini, and the MacBook Pro 14 all start with a base configuration of 8GB RAM -- which can't be upgraded at a later date since the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. "That might have been OK were it not for the fact that Apple charges a ridiculous $20
  
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• Sweden Becomes 38th Country To Sign NASA's Artemis Accords For Moon Exploration

  18-04-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Sweden is the newest nation to sign onto NASA's Artemis Accords -- a series of non-binding bilateral arrangements for peaceful and responsible exploration. Space.com reports: During a signing event in Stockholm on Tuesday (April 16), Swedish Minister for Education Mats Persson penned the agreement alongside U.S. Ambassador Erik D. Ramanathan. "By joining the Artemis Accords, Sweden strengthens its strategic space partnership with the U.S. on space covering areas such as Swedish space research an
  
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• House Passes Bill Requiring Warrant To Purchase Data From Third Parties

  18-04-2024 05:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: The House on Wednesday approved a bill that would limit how the government can purchase data from third parties — legislation that scored a vote after negotiations with a group of GOP colleagues who briefly tanked a vote on warrantless spy powers. Dubbed the Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale, the legislation passed 219-199. It requires law enforcement and other government entities to get a warrant before buying information from third-party
  
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• Google Workers Arrested After Nine-Hour Protest In Cloud Chief's Office

  18-04-2024 02:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  CNBC reports that nine Google workers were arrested on trespassing charges Tuesday night in protest of the company's $1.2 billion contract providing cloud computing services to the Israeli government. The sit-in happened at Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's office in Sunnyvale and the 10th floor commons of Google's New York office. From the report: The arrests, which were livestreamed on Twitch by participants, follow rallies outside Google offices in New York, Sunnyvale and Seattle, which attrac
  
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• TikTok Starts Testing Its Instagram Competitor 'TikTok Notes'

  18-04-2024 01:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  TikTok has started testing its Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes, in Canada and Australia. TechCrunch reports: The company said on X that it is in the "early stage" of the app's rollout and that the app is "a dedicated space for photo and text content." "We hope that the TikTok community will use TikTok Notes to continue sharing their moments through photo posts. Whether documenting adventures, expressing creativity, or simply sharing snapshots of one's day, the TikTok Notes experience is desig
  
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• Boston Dynamics' New Atlas Robot Is a Swiveling, Shape-Shifting Nightmare

  18-04-2024 01:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Jess Weatherbed reports via The Verge: It's alive! A day after announcing it was retiring Atlas, its hydraulic robot, Boston Dynamics has introduced a new, all-electric version of its humanoid machine. The next-generation Atlas robot is designed to offer a far greater range of movement than its predecessor. Boston Dynamics wanted the new version to show that Atlas can keep a humanoid form without limiting "how a bipedal robot can move." The new version has been redesigned with swiveling joints t
  
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• Feds Appoint 'AI Doomer' To Run US AI Safety Institute

  18-04-2024 00:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The US AI Safety Institute -- part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)—has finally announced its leadership team after much speculation. Appointed as head of AI safety is Paul Christiano, a former OpenAI researcher who pioneered a foundational AI safety technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), but is also known for predicting that "there's a 50 percent chance AI development could end
  
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• AltStore PAL Alternative App Marketplace Launches On iPhone In EU

  17-04-2024 23:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  AltStore PAL has become one of the first alternative app marketplaces to launch in the European Union. Developed by Riley Testut, AltStore PAL is marketed as an open-source project designed to distribute apps from independent developers. MacRumors reports: At launch, it features two apps, including Testut's Delta game emulator and clipboard manager app Clip. Delta is also being simultaneously released in the App Store outside of the European Union, but it looks like EU customers will need to dow
  
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• Trump Media Shares Down 14% After Company Says Truth Social To Launch TV Streaming

  17-04-2024 23:02 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which has been called the "mother of all meme stocks" after it made its stock market debut in late March, announced that its Truth Social platform is moving to launch a live TV streaming platform. Following the news, shares of DJT closed more than 14% lower Tuesday. They ended trading Monday down by more than 18%. CNBC reports: The stock's price has dropped by a whopping 67.7% since Trump Media began trading as a public company on March 26, erasing more
  
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• Hackers Voice Cloned the CEO of LastPass For Attack

  17-04-2024 22:25 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Futurism: In a new blog post from LastPass, the password management firm used by countless personal and corporate clients to help protect their login information, the company explains that someone used AI voice-cloning tech to spoof the voice of its CEO in an attempt to trick one of its employees. As the company writes in the post, one of its employees earlier this week received several WhatsApp communications -- including calls, texts, and a voice messag
  
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• What Caused the Storm That Brought Dubai To a Standstill?

  17-04-2024 21:21 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A storm hit the United Arab Emirates and Oman this week bringing record rainfall that flooded highways, inundated houses, grid-locked traffic and trapped people in their homes. [...] In the UAE, a record 254 millimetres (10 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Al Ain, a city bordering Oman. It was the largest ever in a 24-hour period since records started in 1949. Rainfall is rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, that is typically known for i
  
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• AI Computing Is on Pace To Consume More Energy Than India, Arm Says

  17-04-2024 20:42 via slashdot.org
  
  AI's voracious need for computing power is threatening to overwhelm energy sources, requiring the industry to change its approach to the technology, according to Arm Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas. From a report: By 2030, the world's data centers are on course to use more electricity than India, the world's most populous country, Haas said. Finding ways to head off that projected tripling of energy use is paramount if artificial intelligence is going to achieve its promise, he said.
  "We are s
  
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• Average World Incomes To Drop By Nearly a Fifth By 2050, Study Says

  17-04-2024 20:01 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Average incomes will fall by almost a fifth within the next 26 years as a result of the climate crisis, according to a study that predicts the costs of damage will be six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C. From a report: Rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and more frequent and intense extreme weather are projected to cause $38tn of destruction each year by mid-century, according to the research, which is the most comprehensive analysis of its type ever undertaken, a
  
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• Escobar Brother Barred by EU Court From Trademarking Family Name

  17-04-2024 19:22 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Pablo Escobar, the name of the late Colombian drug kingpin, can't be registered as a trademark in the European Union after judges said that approving his brother's bid would go against "principles of morality." From a report: The public "associate that name with drug trafficking and narco-terrorism and with the crimes and suffering resulting therefrom, rather than with his possible good deeds in favor of the poor in Colombia," the EU's General Court in Luxembourg said on Wednesday. Trademarking
  
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• Amazon Cloud Unit Kills Snowmobile Data Transfer Truck Service

  17-04-2024 18:40 via slashdot.org
  
  At Amazon's annual cloud conference in 2016, the company captured the crowd's attention by driving an 18-wheeler onstage. Andy Jassy, now Amazon's CEO, called it the Snowmobile, and said the company would be using the truck to help customers speedily transfer data to Amazon Web Services facilities. Less than eight years later, the semi is out of commission. From a report: As of March, AWS had removed Snowmobile from its website, and the Amazon unit has stopped offering the service, CNBC has conf
  
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