ICT news

• FBI Warns About Counterfeit Batteries

  09-10-2022 23:50 via hardware.slashdot.org
  "Scammers are leveraging the vulnerabilities in the global supply chain, as well as the public's continuing need for new batteries, to sell a wide variety of counterfeits or unauthorized replicas online," warns America's FBI.
  "Do not fall victim to online fraudsters or unauthorized dealers or manufacturers."Counterfeit batteries do not go through the same standardized testing as original equipment manufacturer batteries and can adversely impact the safety and health of the consumer....
  Avoid aft
  
  Read more

• A Strange Pumpkin-Orange Full Moon Rises in the Sky Tonight

  09-10-2022 22:50 via science.slashdot.org
  Look at the full moon! Tonight it may appear larger and more orange than usual, reports Space.com, "taking on a fitting appearance for the fall season and for the build-up to Halloween."This is the result of something called the 'moon illusion' and the fact it is being viewed close to the horizon. The orange color comes about because as we look at the full moon close to the horizon, the light that it reflects towards us is passing through more of the Earth's atmosphere than when it is close to o
  
  Read more

• 'How California's Bullet Train Went Off the Rails'

  09-10-2022 21:42 via yro.slashdot.org
  In 2008 California's voters approved the first bonds for a $33 billion San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bullet train.14 years later, the New York Times is now calling the project "a case study in how ambitious public works projects can become perilously encumbered by political compromise, unrealistic cost estimates, flawed engineering and a determination to persist on projects that have become... too big to fail...."Political compromises, the records show, produced difficult and costly routes throug
  
  Read more

• The iPhone 14's 'Crash Detection' Keeps Calling 911 on Rollercoasters

  09-10-2022 20:34 via apple.slashdot.org
  "The iPhone 14's new Crash Detection feature, which is supposed to alert authorities when it detects you've been in a car accident, has an unexpected side effect," reports the Verge.
  "It dials 911 on rollercoasters."
  According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the feature has had law enforcement sent to amusement parks on numerous occasions after mistaking a thrill ride's twists, turns, and hard braking for a real emergency....
  If the sensors detect that you've been in an accident, your
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 'AI Music Generators Could Be a Boon For Artists - But Also Problematic'

  09-10-2022 19:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  "Our new robot overlords are making a whole lot of progress in the space of AI music generation," quips TechCrunch, discussing a new project called "Harmonai" backed by Stability AI (creators of the open source AI image generator Stable Diffusion):In late September, Harmonai released Dance Diffusion, an algorithm and set of tools that can generate clips of music by training on hundreds of hours of existing songs.... Dance Diffusion remains in the testing stages — at present, the system can
  
  Read more

• Pro-Russian 'Hacktivists' Temporarily Disrupted Some US State Government Web Sites

  09-10-2022 18:34 via it.slashdot.org
  "Russian-speaking hackers on Wednesday claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky and Mississippi, among other states," reports CNN, calling it "the latest example of apparent politically motivated hacking following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.... The websites in Colorado, Kentucky and Mississippi were sporadically available Wednesday morning and afternoon as administrators appeared to try to bring them online."
  The Kentucky Board of Elections' w
  
  Read more

• Research Shows Recommender Systems Can Use AI To Manipulate Our Preferences

  09-10-2022 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Slashdot reader silverjacket writes:Research presented at the International Conference on Machine Learning shows that when recommender systems use reinforcement learning to increase engagement, they can have the side effect of shifting our preferences to increase engagement. The researchers also showed ways to detect and reduce such manipulation. Google and Facebook have used reinforcement learning in their recommender systems but didn't respond to questions.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  Read more

• YouTube, Spotify Remove QAnon Anthem After Original Composer Asserts Copyright

  09-10-2022 16:34 via news.slashdot.org
  The Washington Post calls it "the gauzy, schmaltzy, vaguely creepy orchestral music unofficially dubbed the QAnon anthem." They also report that it's been "unceremoniously yanked from YouTube and Spotify for violating a harassment policy and alleged copyright infringement, respectively."NBC News reports:In an email to NBC News, composer Will Van De Crommert wrote that he was "exploring legal options" and that "this particular track, which was originally entitled Mirrors, is available to license
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 'In the Battle With Robots, Human Workers Are Winning'

  09-10-2022 13:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Despite warnings that AI will rob humans of jobs, "Somehow we sacks of meat — though prone to exhaustion, distraction, injury and sometimes spectacular error — remain in high demand," writes New York Times columnist Farhad Majoo. AI has yet to replace humans in supposedly at-risk professions like truck driving and fast-food services.Majoo's conclusion? "Humans have been underestimated."It turns out that we (well, many of us) are really amazing at what we do, and for the foreseeable f
  
  Read more

• Canonical Launches New Free Tier for Its Security-Focused 'Ubuntu Pro'

  09-10-2022 09:39 via linux.slashdot.org
  "Starting with the Ubuntu 16.04 edition and including the later LTS versions, Canonical will offer expanded security coverage for critical, high, and medium Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) to all of Ubuntu's open-source applications and toolchains for ten years," reports ZDNet.
  "Yes, you read that right, you get security patches not just for the operating system, but for all of Ubuntu's open-source applications for a decade."
  Most of these are server programs, such as Ansible, Apache
  
  Read more

• Ransomware Attack Delays Patient Care at Several Hospitals Across the US

  09-10-2022 06:34 via science.slashdot.org
  "One of the largest hospital chains in the U.S. was hit with a suspected ransomware cyberattack this week," reports NBC News, "leading to delayed surgeries, hold ups in patient care and rescheduled doctor appointments across the country."
  CommonSpirit Health, ranked as the fourth-largest health system in the country by Becker's Hospital Review, said Tuesday that it had experienced "an IT security issue" that forced it to take certain systems offline. While CommonSpirit declined to share specific
  
  Read more

• Alleged Poker-Cheating Scandal Gets Weirder: Employee Stole $15,000 In Chips

  09-10-2022 03:34 via games.slashdot.org
  An experienced poker player lost to a relative newcomer. But then, "Somehow, the Robbi Jade Lew-Garrett Adelstein scandal diving the poker world just got weirder," reports the New York Post:An internal investigation conducted by Hustler Casino Live — which streamed the game from Los Angeles — has shown that one of their High Stakes Poker Productions employees stole three $5,000 chips from Lew's stack after the broadcast concluded on September 29. The employee, Bryan Sagbigsal, was te
  
  Read more

• PayPal Says It Won't Fine Customers $2,500 for 'Misinformation'

  09-10-2022 00:39 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares this report from the National Review:PayPal has backtracked on a published policy that would have fined users $2,500 for spreading "misinformation," claiming the update had gone out "in error."
  "An 'Acceptable Use Policy' notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information. PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy. Our teams are working to correct our policy pages. We're sorry for
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!