ICT news

• Firefly Launches Alpha Rocket To Orbit

  01-10-2022 23:21 via science.slashdot.org
  techmage writes: Early this morning, Firefly Aerospace succeeded in launching their Alpha rocket to Low Earth Orbit. This marks one of a handful of companies who have reached space with that few attempts (Virgin Orbit and RocketLab are just some of the others). Shameless plug -- I had the pleasure of building the Serenity satellite, a 3U CubeSat that flew on the mission. Check out the video of the launch and deployment. It is quite something to watch. All three payloads were successfully deploye
  
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• Chernobyl Black Frogs Reveal Evolution In Action

  01-10-2022 22:20 via science.slashdot.org
  German Orizaola and Pablo Burraco write via The Conversation: Our work in Chernobyl started in 2016. That year, close to the damaged nuclear reactor, we detected several Eastern tree frogs (Hyla orientalis) with an unusual black tint. The species normally has a bright green dorsal coloration, although occasional darker individuals can be found. Melanin is responsible for the dark color of many organisms. What is less known is that this class of pigments can also reduce the negative effects of ul
  
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• Citrix-Tibco Close $17 Billion Deal, Uniting Virtualization and Enterprise Apps Vendors

  01-10-2022 21:19 via slashdot.org
  Virtualization and cloud products vendor Citrix and enterprise applications vendor Tibco Software have completed their merger, valued at $16.5 billion, with new leadership calling the combined company "a new global leader in enterprise software." CRN reports: The two companies announced the deal's completion in a statement Friday. Tom Krause, who left Broadcom after the chip giant's announced acquisition of VMware to become CEO of the combined Citrix and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tibco, called the
  
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• Danish Pirate Site Blocking Updated, Telecoms Group Publishes All Domains

  01-10-2022 20:18 via yro.slashdot.org
  Rights Alliance and ISPs have agreed to update their code of conduct to block pirate sites more quickly in Denmark. When one ISP receives an instruction to block a domain, a new process will see other ISPs follow in less than seven days. Meanwhile, Denmark's Telecommunications Industry Association is publishing files that reveal precisely which domains are being blocked. TorrentFreak reports: Both Rights Alliance and Teleindustrien (Telecommunications Industry Association in Denmark) have publis
  
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• Sofia, the Historic Airplane-Borne Telescope, Lands For the Last Time

  01-10-2022 19:17 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Over the past eight years, a modified Boeing 747 jetliner has flown hundreds of flights on a unique mission: carrying a 19-ton, 2.5-meter telescope known as Sofia, or the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Flying a telescope on a jumbo jet offered a way to peer into the heavens at wavelengths that could not be glimpsed from the ground -- but the ticket was expensive. So yesterday, NASA and the German space agency grounded the mission
  
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• Apple VP Leaves Company After Vulgar Comment Goes Viral On TikTok

  01-10-2022 18:16 via apple.slashdot.org
  Apple's vice president of procurement, Tony Blevins, has left the company after a TikTok video showed him making a vulgar comment about women at a car show. CNBC reports: An Apple representative confirmed the departure to CNBC, saying, "Tony is leaving Apple." The departure was spurred by a TikTok video posted Sept. 5, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. In the video, reviewed by CNBC, Blevins is getting out of an expensive Mercedes-Benz sports car and is asked what he does fo
  
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• Fake CISO Profiles On LinkedIn Target Fortune 500s

  01-10-2022 17:15 via tech.slashdot.org
  Security researcher Brian Krebs writes: Someone has recently created a large number of fake LinkedIn profiles for Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) roles at some of the world's largest corporations. It's not clear who's behind this network of fake CISOs or what their intentions may be. But the fabricated LinkedIn identities are confusing search engine results for CISO roles at major companies, and they are being indexed as gospel by various downstream data-scraping sources. [...] Rich Ma
  
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• Researchers Use Fluid Dynamics To Spot Artificial Imposter Voices

  01-10-2022 16:14 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Conversation: To detect audio deepfakes, we and our research colleagues at the University of Florida have developed a technique that measures the acoustic and fluid dynamic differences between voice samples created organically by human speakers and those generated synthetically by computers.The first step in differentiating speech produced by humans from speech generated by deepfakes is understanding how to acoustically model the vocal tract. Luckily
  
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• High-Severity Microsoft Exchange 0-Day Under Attack Threatens 220,000 Servers

  01-10-2022 15:00 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Microsoft late Thursday confirmed the existence of two critical vulnerabilities in its Exchange application that have already compromised multiple servers and pose a serious risk to an estimated 220,000 more around the world. The currently unpatched security flaws have been under active exploit since early August, when Vietnam-based security firm GTSC discovered customer networks had been infected with malicious webshells and that the initia
  
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• Blackout After Drone Food Delivery Crashes Into Powerlines

  01-10-2022 12:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  AmiMoJo shares a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): Thousands of people were left without power after a food delivery drone crashed into powerlines yesterday in what has been described as a "first" by Energex. Energex spokesman Danny Donald told ABC Radio Brisbane people in Browns Plains, south of Brisbane, and the immediate surrounds lost power yesterday after a drone carrying food hit the network about 2pm. Energex restored power for about 2,000 customers within 45 minu
  
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• NASA and SpaceX Are Studying a Hubble Telescope Boost, Adding 15 To 20 Years of Life

  01-10-2022 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  NASA announced Thursday that it plans to study the possibility of using SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle to boost the aging Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit. Ars Technica reports: The federal agency has signed a "Space Act Agreement" with SpaceX to conduct a six-month study to determine the practicability of Dragon docking with the 32-year-old telescope and boosting it into a higher orbit. The study is not exclusive, meaning that other companies can propose similar concepts with alternativ
  
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• NYPD Considers Using Encryption To Block Public From Radio Scanner Broadcasts

  01-10-2022 05:30 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: The NYPD says it wants to reimagine its current police communication system and transition to encrypted messages by 2024, according to a recent amNY report confirmed by Gizmodo. While law enforcement has spent years fighting to make encryption less accessible for everyday people, police think they need a little more privacy. Critics worry a turn towards encryption by law enforcement could reduce transparency, hamstring the news media, and potenti
  
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• Elon Musk Unveils Prototype of Humanoid Optimus Robot

  01-10-2022 04:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a prototype of a humanoid robot that he said utilizes the company's AI software, as well as the sensors that power its advanced driver assist features. The Verge reports: The robot was showcased at Tesla's AI Day, and reps said it features the same technology used to enable the Full Self-Driving beta in Tesla's cars. According to Musk, it can do more than what has been shown, but "the first time it walked without a tether was tonight on stage." Musk said they're targ
  
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• SF To Feds: Cruise Driverless Cars Keep Blocking Our Roads

  01-10-2022 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  After years of lobbying the state to increase regulations on autonomous vehicles, San Francisco officials are taking their case to the feds. San Francisco Examiner reports: The directors of The City's two main transportation agencies outlined their concerns about Cruise's driverless cars in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding Cruise's application to deploy a custom-built autonomous vehicle. In it, San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority Director J
  
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• Two-Year Internet Outage In Ethiopia Continues

  01-10-2022 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  Zecharias Zelalem writes via Reuters: Few have been spared the effects of a nearly two-year internet and phone shutdown in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, which has been cut off since fighting erupted between Tigrayan rebels and government forces in November 2020. The conflict resumed last month after a months-long humanitarian truce, dashing hopes for communications to be restored. Even the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who hails from Tigray, said he
  
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• House Democrats Debut New Bill To Limit US Police Use of Facial Recognition

  01-10-2022 02:02 via politics.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Dubbed the Facial Recognition Act, the bill would compel law enforcement to obtain a judge-authorized warrant before using facial recognition. By adding the warrant requirement, law enforcement would first have to show a court it has probable cause that a person has committed a serious crime, rather than allowing largely unrestricted use of facial recognition under the existing legal regime. The bill also puts other limits on what law enforcem
  
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• Games Are Starting To Require a Phone Number To Play

  01-10-2022 01:20 via games.slashdot.org
  According to Polyon, players will be required to link a phone number to their Battle.net accounts if they want to play Overwatch 2. "The same two-factor step, called SMS Protect, will also be used on all Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 accounts when that game launches, and new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare accounts," the report adds. From the report: Blizzard Entertainment announced SMS Protect and other safety measures ahead of Overwatch 2's release. Blizzard said it implemented these controls be
  
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• Roku Will Now Work With Nielsen To Track Cross-Media Viewership

  01-10-2022 01:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Today, Nielsen announced that Roku plans to enable four-screen measurement across desktop, mobile, connected TV and traditional TV. This is the first time Roku will use the digital methodology, Nielsen One, the data measurement firm's cross-media measurement tool, which launches in December. TechCrunch reports: With Nielsen's forthcoming tool, the firm claims that the company is on track to provide a consistent and comparable cross-media solution. Nielsen also claims that, with Nielsen One, mark
  
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• Coroner Lists Instagram Algorithm As Contributing Cause of UK Teen's Death

  01-10-2022 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In a London court this week, coroner Andrew Walker had the difficult task of assessing a question that child safety advocates have been asking for years: How responsible is social media for the content algorithms feed to minors? The case before Walker involved a 14-year-old named Molly Russell, who took her life in 2017 after she viewed thousands of posts on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest promoting self-harm. At one point during the
  
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• Ubisoft Will Help Jilted Stadia Users Transfer Their Purchases To PC

  01-10-2022 00:02 via games.slashdot.org
  Stadia, Google's ill-fated attempt at a cloud gaming service, will shut down in January. Players will be refunded for all their hardware and software purchases, except for Stadia Pro subscriptions. As it turns out, some folks will be able to keep playing certain games elsewhere. Ubisoft will help people who bought its titles on Stadia to transfer their purchases to PC. From a report: "While Stadia will shut down on January 18th, 2023, we're happy to share that we're currently working to bring th
  
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