ICT news

• Magic Leap's Smaller, Lighter Second-Gen AR Glasses Are Now Available

  02-10-2022 23:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  Magic Leap's second take on augmented reality eyewear is available. "The glasses are still aimed at developers and pros, but they include a number of design upgrades that make them considerably more practical -- and point to where AR might be headed," reports Engadget. From the report: The design is 50 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter than the original. It should be more comfortable to wear over long periods, then. Magic Leap also promises better visibility for AR in bright light (think a
  
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• Climate Change Is Turning Trees Into Gluttons

  02-10-2022 22:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Hmmmmmm shares a report from Phys.Org: Trees have long been known to buffer humans from the worst effects of climate change by pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Now new research shows just how much forests have been bulking up on that excess carbon. The study, recently published in the Journal Nature Communications, finds that elevated carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased wood volume -- or the biomass -- of forests in the United States. Although other factors like cli
  
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• Debian Chooses Reasonable, Common Sense Solution To Dealing With Non-Free Firmware

  02-10-2022 21:19 via linux.slashdot.org
  Michael Larabel writes via Phoronix: Debian developers have been figuring out an updated stance to take on non-free firmware considering the increasing number of devices now having open-source Linux drivers but requiring closed-source firmware for any level of functionality. The voting on the non-free firmware matter has now concluded and the votes tallied... The debian votes option 5 as winning: "Change SC for non-free firmware in installer, one installer."Basically the Debian Installer media w
  
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• PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan 'Flew To Brussels' To Voice Concerns To EU Over Xbox's Activision Deal

  02-10-2022 20:18 via games.slashdot.org
  PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reportedly flew to Brussels last month to meet with European Union regulators currently scrutinizing Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The visit was first reported by Dealreporter sources (paywalled). Video Game Chronicle reports: As has been widely publicized in recent weeks, PlayStation's concerns over the deal are around the future release arrangements for the Call of Duty series -- which is regularly PlayStation's annual best-seller -- and whe
  
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• Tesla Unveils New Dojo Supercomputer So Powerful It Tripped the Power Grid

  02-10-2022 19:17 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: Tesla has unveiled its latest version of its Dojo supercomputer and it's apparently so powerful that it tripped the power grid in Palo Alto. Dojo is Tesla's own custom supercomputer platform built from the ground up for AI machine learning and more specifically for video training using the video data coming from its fleet of vehicles. [...] Last year, at Tesla's AI Day, the company unveiled its Dojo supercomputer, but the company was still rampi
  
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• Meta Ordered To Pay $175 Million For Copying Green Beret Veteran's App

  02-10-2022 18:16 via yro.slashdot.org
  Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was found by a federal jury in Austin, Texas, to have infringed on two patents held by Voxer, a walkie talkie messaging app founded by a former Army Green Beret. The social media giant was ordered to pay nearly $175 million in damages. Military Times reports: Voxer launched the app in 2011, which was named Best Overall App in the First Annual Silicon Valley Business App Awards in 2013. In 2012, Facebook approached Voxer about a potential collab
  
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• Pentagon Is Far Too Tight With Its Security Bug Bounties

  02-10-2022 17:15 via it.slashdot.org
  Discovering and reporting critical security flaws that could allow foreign spies to steal sensitive US government data or launch cyberattacks via the Department of Defense's IT systems doesn't carry a high reward. The Register reports: The Pentagon, in its most recent week-long Hack US program conducted with HackerOne, paid out $75,000 in bug bounties and another $35,000 in bonuses and awards to ethical hackers who disclosed critical- and high-severity vulnerabilities in Uncle Sam's networks. [.
  
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• Tumblr Is Never Going Back To Porn

  02-10-2022 16:14 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg would like you to please stop asking Tumblr to bring back porn because it isn't going to happen. After widespread and inaccurate speculation that Tumblr would lift its ban on adult content, Mullenweg posted a long explanation yesterday of why Tumblr will never go back to the old days. Or, in his words: "the casually porn-friendly era of the early internet is currently impossible." That doesn't mean Tumblr's policie
  
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• In a First, US Appoints a Diplomat For Plants and Animals

  02-10-2022 12:10 via news.slashdot.org
  For the first time, the United States is designating a special diplomat to advocate for global biodiversity amid what policymakers here and overseas increasingly recognize as an extinction crisis. The Washington Post reports: Monica Medina is taking on a new role as special envoy for biodiversity and water resources, the State Department announced Wednesday. She currently serves as the department's assistant secretary for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs. The appoint
  
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• The Era of Fast, Cheap Genome Sequencing Is Here

  02-10-2022 09:07 via science.slashdot.org
  Emily Mullin writes via Wired: The human genome is made of more than 6 billion letters, and each person has a unique configuration of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts -- the molecular building blocks that make up DNA. Determining the sequence of all those letters used to take vast amounts of money, time, and effort. The Human Genome Project took 13 years and thousands of researchers. The final cost: $2.7 billion. That 1990 project kicked off the age of genomics, helping scientists unravel genetic drivers of c
  
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• TikTok Tracks You Across the Web, Even If You Don't Use the App

  02-10-2022 05:33 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Consumer Reports: A Consumer Reports investigation finds that TikTok, one of the country's most popular apps, is partnering with a growing number of other companies to hoover up data about people as they travel across the internet. That includes people who don't have TikTok accounts. These companies embed tiny TikTok trackers called "pixels" in their websites. Then TikTok uses the information gathered by all those pixels to help the companies target ads a
  
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• Intel's Self-Driving Technology Mobileye Unit Files for IPO

  02-10-2022 03:33 via slashdot.org
  Intel has filed for an initial public offering of its self-driving technology business, Mobileye Global, braving the worst market for new US listings since the financial crisis more than a decade ago. Bloomberg reports: The company didn't disclose terms of the planned share sale in its filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Mobileye will continue to be controlled by Intel after the IPO, according to the filing. Intel expects the IPO to value Mobileye at as much as $30 bill
  
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• Stadia Controllers Could Become E-Waste Unless Google Issues Bluetooth Update

  02-10-2022 01:23 via mobile.slashdot.org
  With Stadia coming to an abrupt halt, gamers want Google to issue a software update for the controllers that unlocks Bluetooth to allow them to work wirelessly with other game systems. It would also "avoid a lot of plastic and circuit board trash," adds Ars. From the report: Stadia's controllers were custom-made to connect directly to the Internet, reducing lag and allowing for instant firmware updates and (sometimes painful) connections to smart TVs. There's Bluetooth inside the Stadia controll
  
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• Covert CIA Websites Could Have Been Found By an 'Amateur,' Research Finds

  02-10-2022 00:22 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The CIA used hundreds of websites for covert communications that were severely flawed and could have been identified by even an "amateur sleuth," according to security researchers. The flaws reportedly led to the death of more than two dozen US sources in China in 2011 and 2012 and also reportedly led Iran to execute or imprison other CIA assets. The new research was conducted by security experts at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toron
  
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