ICT news

• How Coral Researchers Are Coping With the Death of Reefs

  24-11-2017 23:20 via rss.slashdot.org
  Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic: The continuing desecration has taken an immense toll on the mental health of people like Colton, a director at Coral Reef Alliance, who have devoted their lives to studying and saving these ecosystems. How do you get up and go to work every day when every day brings fresh news of loss? "Are we going to lose an entire ecosystem on my watch? It's demoralizing. It's been really hard to find the optimism," she says. "I think Miss Enthusiasm has gone away." There wa
  
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• Data Breach Hits Australia's Department of Social Services Credit Card System

  24-11-2017 22:40 via rss.slashdot.org
  Paul Karp, reporting for The Guardian: The Department of Social Services has written to 8,500 current and former employees warning them their personal data held by a contractor has been breached. In letters sent in early November the department alerted the employees to "a data compromise relating to staff profiles within the department's credit card management system prior to 2016." Compromised data includes credit card information, employees' names, user names, work phone numbers, work emails,
  
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• Linux Pioneer Munich Confirms Switch To Windows 10

  24-11-2017 22:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  The German city of Munich, once seen as a open-source pioneer, has decided to return to Windows. Windows 10 will be rolled out to about 29,000 PCs at the city council, a major shift for an authority that has been running Linux for more than a decade. From a report: Back in 2003 the council decided to to switch to a Linux-based desktop, which came to be known as LiMux, and other open-source software, despite heavy lobbying by Microsoft. But now Munich will begin rolling out a Windows 10 client fr
  
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• Regulators Question Google Over Location Data

  24-11-2017 21:20 via rss.slashdot.org
  Sherisse Pham and Taehoon Lee, writing for CNN Tech: Google is facing scrutiny for reportedly collecting data about the location of smartphone users without their knowledge. Regulators in South Korea summoned Google representatives this week to question them about a report that claimed the company was collecting data from Android devices even when location services were disabled. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) "is carrying out an inquiry into the claims that Google collected users' Ce
  
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• Black Friday Panic at Macy's: People Report Credit Card System Outage

  24-11-2017 20:40 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Macy's might have celebrated an increase in share price on Black Friday, but it seems like the retailer will end the day with a lot of lost sales. Many of its customers recently took to Twitter to complain that its credit card machines are down, and that they can only pay with cash.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Google and Apple Order Telegram To Nuke Channel Over Taylor Swift Piracy

  24-11-2017 20:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader writes: Instant messaging client Telegram has for the first time blocked access to an entire channel following pressure from Google and Apple. A channel, called Any Suitable Pop, was found distributing copyright infringed copies of songs from Taylor Swift's new album 'Reputation'. It's understood that following complaints from Universal Music, Google and Apple ordered Telegram to take action.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• FSP Has A 2000W Power Supply For Mining Rigs

  24-11-2017 19:30
  FSP enters the mining market with a new powerful PSU, able to deliver up to 2,000 Watts with 230V input and up to 1,500 Watts with 115V.
  
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• Mobile Homes Are So Expensive Now, Hurricane Victims Can't Afford Them

  24-11-2017 19:20 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Hurricane victims emerging from ravaged trailer parks are discovering that the U.S. mobile-home market has left them behind. In Florida and Texas, dealerships are swarmed by buyers looking to rebuild their lives after hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but many leave disappointed. The industry, led by Warren Buffett's Clayton Homes, is peddling such pricey interior-designer touches as breakfast bars and his-and-her bathroom sinks. These extras, plus manufacturers' i
  
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• Lawsuit Accuses Microsoft Of HoloLens Patent Infringement

  24-11-2017 19:00
  It looks as though Microsoft has a bit of a legal situation on its hands in regards to its HoloLens technology.
  
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• There's Now a Dark Web Version of Wikipedia

  24-11-2017 18:32 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: In many parts of the world, like North America, using Wikipedia is taken for granted; hell, there are even Twitter accounts to track government employees editing the internet's free encyclopedia while on the clock. But in other places, like Turkey or Syria, using Wikipedia can be difficult, and even dangerous. To make using Wikipedia safer for at-risk users, former Facebook security engineer Alec Muffett has started an experimental dark net Wikipedia service
  
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• You're Invited To The Last Alpha Test For 'Sea Of Thieves'

  24-11-2017 18:00
  You have to be at least 18 years old and have an Xbox Live Gold subscription to participate.
  
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• A Third of Americans Still Buy and Rent Videos

  24-11-2017 17:50 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader writes: One-third of Americans still buy and rent videos, in addition to using streaming services like Netflix and YouTube, NPD Group found in its annual Entertainment Trends in America report. The research firm surveyed more than 7,000 members of its US online panel about their entertainment consumption during August 2017. Family films are still popular buys because kids will watch them over and over again. Spotty broadband service in rural America makes buying and renting m
  
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• 'Gwent' Single-Player Campaign Delayed To 2018

  24-11-2017 17:45
  Even with the short delay, CD Projekt RED plans to increase the number of updates to the core multiplayer experience.
  
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• There's Some Intense Web Scans Going on for Bitcoin and Ethereum Wallets

  24-11-2017 17:10 via rss.slashdot.org
  Catalin Cimpanu, writing for BleepingComputer: With both Bitcoin and Ethereum price hitting all-time highs in the past seven days, cyber-criminals have stepped up efforts to search and steal funds stored in these two cryptocurrencies. These mass Internet scanning campaigns have been recently picked up by various honeypots installed by security researchers across the Internet. The first of these, aimed at Bitcoin owners, was picked up by security researcher Didier Stevens over the weekend, just t
  
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• More Young People Are Becoming Farmers

  24-11-2017 16:26 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: "For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest Census of Agriculture," the WashPost's Caitlin Downey reports in a front-pager with the lovely headline, "A growing movement." 69% of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees -- significantly higher than the general population.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Thank You, Phish Fans, For Caring About Net Neutrality

  24-11-2017 15:40 via rss.slashdot.org
  If you venture over to Battle For the Net, which encourages internet users to call Congress to advocate for the preservation of net neutrality rules, you'll find something peculiar: Several of the top sites that direct calls are Phish-related. From a report: As someone on Twitter pointed out, the traffic from phish.net -- which describes itself as "a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans" -- appears to be coming from a pop-up message that greets visitors to the site. The sa
  
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• Destiny 2 Performance Review

  24-11-2017 15:00
  
  With Destiny 2, Activision and Bungie deliver a multi-platform experience for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PCs. While consoles are limited to 30 FPS, PC gamers enjoy uncapped frame rates. What kind of performance will you see?
  
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• Brands Pull YouTube Ads Over Images of Children

  24-11-2017 15:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Lidl, Cadbury maker Mondelez, Mars and other companies have pulled advertising from YouTube after the Times newspaper found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands. Comments from hundreds of pedophiles were posted alongside the videos, which appeared to have been uploaded by the children themselves, according to a Times investigation. One clip of a pre-teenage girl in a nightie drew 6.5 million view
  
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• Belgium Denounces Loot Boxes as Gambling; Hawaiian Legislator Calls Them 'Predatory'

  24-11-2017 12:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  Peter Bright, writing for ArsTechnica: Belgium's Gaming Commission has ruled that loot boxes -- in-game purchases where what you receive is randomized and only known once you open the box -- are gambling. The country's minister of justice, Koen Geens, has said that he wants to see them banned Europe-wide, reports PC Gamer. Amid outcry over the use of loot boxes in Overwatch and Star Wars Battlefront 2, the Belgian Gaming Commission decided last week to look into the issue, with Commission Direct
  
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• EU Lawmakers Back Exports Control on Spying Technology

  24-11-2017 09:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: EU lawmakers overwhelmingly backed plans on Thursday to control exports of devices to intercept mobile phone calls, hack computers or circumvent passwords that could be used by foreign states to suppress political opponents or activists. Members of the European Parliament's trade committee voted by 34 votes to one in favor of a planned update to export controls on "dual use" products or technologies. The EU has had export controls since 2009 on such dual use
  
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• New Uber CEO Knew of Hack for Months

  24-11-2017 05:30 via rss.slashdot.org
  Greg Bensinger and Robert McMillan, reporting for the WSJ: While the massive data breach at Uber didn't happen under the watch of its new chief executive, more than two months elapsed before he notified affected customers and drivers of the incident (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled), people familiar with the matter said. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi learned of the breach, which Uber said happened in October 2016 and affected some 57 million accounts, about two weeks after he officially took th
  
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• Broadband Firms in UK Must Ditch 'Misleading' Speed Ads

  24-11-2017 03:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Broadband firms will no longer be able to advertise their fast net services based on the speeds just a few customers get, from May next year. Currently ISPs are allowed to use headline speeds that only 10% of customers will actually receive. In future, adverts must be based on what is available to at least half of customers at peak times. It follows research that suggested broadband advertising can be misleading for consumers. The Advertising Standards Author
  
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• Cyber Monday Deals

  24-11-2017 01:00
  Because shopping for bargains on new computer hardware can be a considerably time consuming endeavor, we regularly compile a list of the best deals.
  
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• More Than Half of GitHub Is Duplicate Code, Researchers Find

  24-11-2017 00:53 via rss.slashdot.org
  Richard Chirgwin, writing for The Register: Given that code sharing is a big part of the GitHub mission, it should come at no surprise that the platform stores a lot of duplicated code: 70 per cent, a study has found. An international team of eight researchers didn't set out to measure GitHub duplication. Their original aim was to try and define the "granularity" of copying -- that is, how much files changed between different clones -- but along the way, they turned up a "staggering rate of file
  
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