ICT news

• Zoom Is Adding Email and Calendar Features

  08-11-2022 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  At its Zoomtopia conference, the company announced a bunch of features that are coming to its platform, including two key ones for productivity: email and calendars. Engadget reports: You can connect third-party email and calendar services to Zoom and access them through the desktop app. The company says that can help save you time instead of having to switch between apps and perhaps needing to hunt for the right tab in your browser. Those on the Zoom One Pro or Zoom Standard Pro plans will be a
  
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• California Voters Weigh New Tax On Rich To Boost EV Adoption

  08-11-2022 23:02 via politics.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Should California's richest residents pay higher taxes to help put more electric vehicles on the road? That's a question the state's voters are weighing in the election that concludes Tuesday. Proposition 30 would place a new 1.75% tax on incomes above $2 million, which is estimated to be fewer than 43,000 taxpayers. It would raise billions annually, with most going to help subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles and construction
  
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• Swiss Re Proposes Government Bail Out as Cybercrime Insurance Costs Spike

  08-11-2022 22:25 via it.slashdot.org
  As insurance companies struggle to stay afloat amid rising cyber claims, Swiss Re has recommended a public-private partnership insurance scheme with one option being a government-backed fund to help fill the coverage gap. From a report: Global cyber insurance premiums hit $10 billion in 2021, according to Swiss Re's estimates. In a study published this week, the insurance giant forecasted 20 percent annual growth to 2025, with premiums rising to $23 billion over the next few years.
  Meanwhile, an
  
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• Salesforce Cut Hundreds of Employees

  08-11-2022 21:45 via slashdot.org
  Salesforce on Tuesday confirmed that it cut some employees this week after the enterprise software maker saw demand lighten in some countries and industries. From a report: Protocol reported earlier on the cuts, saying that they could affect up to 2,500 employees. One person familiar with the matter said Salesforce let go of fewer than 1,000 people on Monday. At the end of January it employed 73,541 people. In August Salesforce said in a filing that headcount rose 36% in the past year "to meet t
  
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• Sony To Begin Plastic Packaging Phase-out Next Year

  08-11-2022 21:14 via news.slashdot.org
  Sony will start phasing out plastic packaging for small electronic gadgets such as smartphones, cameras and audio accessories from next year, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday. From a report: From April, plastic packaging will not be used for some new products weighing one kilogram (2.2 pounds) or less. The Japanese conglomerate wants to eliminate the material from all containers for newly designed smaller goods by 2025, the spokeswoman told AFP. "Instead of plastics, we will mainly use paper,
  
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• Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Denied Bid for New Trial

  08-11-2022 20:20 via news.slashdot.org
  A federal judge denied Elizabeth Holmes's bid for a new trial, the latest setback for the Theranos founder who was convicted of fraud in January. From a report: U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw Ms. Holmes's trial which began last year, said in a ruling late Monday that the arguments in her three motions for a new trial didn't introduce material new evidence or establish government misconduct, adding that a new trial was unlikely to result in an acquittal.
  Ms. Holmes is scheduled fo
  
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• Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Faces EU Probe

  08-11-2022 19:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Microsoft's proposed $69 billion takeover of games developer Activision Blizzard faces an in-depth European Union probe after regulators said they're concerned the software giant could thwart access to blockbuster franchises such as Call of Duty. From a report: The European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that Microsoft may "foreclose access to Activision Blizzard's console and PC video games, especially to high-profile and highly successful games." The EU's merger watchdog set a March
  
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• Spyware Is Running Amok in Europe, EU Lawmaker Warns

  08-11-2022 19:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  Spyware such as Pegasus is being deployed by state-run organizations across the European Union to snoop on politicians and journalists with virtually no EU-level oversight, according to a draft report for the bloc's parliament. From a report: The document on the use of surveillance spyware released on Tuesday said citizens can "safely assume that all EU member states have purchased one or more commercial spyware products" such as Pegasus, developed by Israel-based NSO Group. But, "no meaningful
  
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• Apple's Brain Drain Hinders Efforts To Pick Its Next Jony Ive

  08-11-2022 18:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  Turnover at Apple has hindered efforts to replace the head of product design, leaving a gaping hole at the helm of a prominent team that's been key to the iPhone maker's prolonged success. From a report: Legendary design leader Jony Ive departed Apple in 2019, and his replacement for hardware design lasted just about three years. Now the department -- still in Ive's shadow -- needs a new leader at a time when there are few obvious choices. And the fate of Apple's hardware devices, which accounte
  
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• Binance To Acquire FTX

  08-11-2022 17:12 via slashdot.org
  Binance, in an announcement: This afternoon, FTX asked for our help. There is a significant liquidity crunch. To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire http://FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days. There is a lot to cover and will take some time. This is a highly dynamic situation, and we are assessing the situation in real time. Binance has the discretion to pull out from the deal at any time. We expect FT
  
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• Greece To Ban Sale of Spyware After Government Is Accused of Surveillance

  08-11-2022 17:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced that Greece would ban the sale of spyware, after his government was accused in a news report of targeting dozens of prominent politicians, journalists and businessmen for surveillance, and the judicial authorities began an investigation. From a report: The announcement is the latest chapter in a scandal that erupted over the summer, when Mr. Mitsotakis conceded that Greece's state intelligence service had been monitoring an opposition party leader
  
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• Court Sides With LinkedIn in Data Scraping Lawsuit vs. hiQ Labs

  08-11-2022 16:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  LinkedIn emerged victorious in a nearly six-year-old lawsuit against hiQ Labs for data scraping. From a report: The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the professional network, with Judge Edward Chen writing, "hiQ relied on LinkedIn for its data primarily by scraping wholly public LinkedIn profiles using automated software. hiQ had continuously attempted to circumvent LinkedIn's general technical defenses since May 2014.
  "It experimented and attempted t
  
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• Microsoft is Showing Ads in the Windows 11 Sign-Out Menu

  08-11-2022 15:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Microsoft is now promoting some of its products in the sign-out flyout menu that shows up when clicking the user icon in the Windows 11 start menu. BleepingComputer: This new Windows 11 "feature" was discovered by Windows enthusiast Albacore, who shared several screenshots of advertisement notifications in the Accounts flyout. The screenshots show that Microsoft promotes the OneDrive file hosting service and prods users to create or complete their Microsoft accounts.
  Those reacting to this on so
  
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• AMC Entertainment To Open 'Zoom Room' Auditoriums At Theaters In 17 Markets

  08-11-2022 14:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Deadline: AMC Entertainment plans to launch "Zoom Rooms" at movie theaters in up to 17 U.S. cities serving businesses with in-person events and meetings. The partnership with Zoom will roll out "sometime in 2023," the giant exhibitor said. It will give the chain access to the "multi-billion market for corporate and other meetings," according to CEO Adam Aron, and during weekdays when most theaters are quiet.Users will book three-hour blocks online, select
  
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• 'If You Die in the Game, You Die in Real Life.'

  08-11-2022 12:11 via tech.slashdot.org
  Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, writing on his personal blog: Today is November 6th, 2022, the day of the SAO Incident. Thousands of VRMMORPG gamers were trapped by a mad scientist inside a death game that could only be escaped through completion. If their hit points dropped to zero, their brain would be bombarded by extraordinarily powerful microwaves, supposedly killing the user. The same would happen if anyone in the real world tampered with their NerveGear, the virtual reality head-mounted-
  
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• Rate of Sea Level Rise 'Has Doubled Since 1993,' Report Finds

  08-11-2022 11:00 via news.slashdot.org
  One of the most alarming findings mentioned in the World Meteorological Organization's 2022 report, released Sunday, is that the "rate of sea level rise has doubled since 1993." They added: "The past two and a half years alone account for 10 percent of the overall rise in sea level since satellite measurements started nearly 30 years ago." From a report: One of the main causes of the accelerating pace of sea level rise is melting glaciers. According to the WMO, "2022 took an exceptionally heavy
  
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• Starlink Is Getting Daytime Data Caps

  08-11-2022 08:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  "Internet provider Starlink is reviving the old concept of soft data caps with the introduction of a 'Fair Use policy,'" writes Slashdot reader thegarbz. "Users who consume more than 1TB of data per month will find their connections deteriorated." The Verge reports: Residential customers will now start each monthly billing cycle with an allocation of "Priority Access" data that tracks what you're using from 7AM in the morning until 11PM at night. If you surpass that 1TB cap, which Starlink says
  
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• New Go-Playing Trick Defeats World-Class Go AI, But Loses To Human Amateurs

  08-11-2022 04:30 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In the world of deep-learning AI, the ancient board game Go looms large. Until 2016, the best human Go player could still defeat the strongest Go-playing AI. That changed with DeepMind's AlphaGo, which used deep-learning neural networks to teach itself the game at a level humans cannot match. More recently, KataGo has become popular as an open source Go-playing AI that can beat top-ranking human Go players. Last week, a group of AI researche
  
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• Japan Seeks Power To Turn Down Private Home Air Conditioners Remotely, Report Says

  08-11-2022 03:02 via slashdot.org
  Japan Today reports: As reported by Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in a meeting on Nov 2, the Energy Conservation Subcommittee of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry resolved to begin working group discussions with the aim of gaining the ability to remotely turn down privately owned air conditioner/heater units. The goal would be to decrease energy usage during expected power shortages, which the committee feels are a growing concern as Japan attempts to shift towards renewable energy sou
  
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• Apple's AR Glasses Could Slip To 2026, Says Analyst

  08-11-2022 02:25 via apple.slashdot.org
  While Apple is still expected to release its first VR/AR headset next year, the bigger step to mainstream adoption -- the Google Glass-style AR glasses -- may have slipped two years according to one analyst. Tom's Guide reports: In an email to MarketWatch, Haitong International Tech Research's Jeff Pu wrote that Apple Glasses could now be up to four years from making their first appearance. "We now expect the AR Glass to be postponed to 2025-2026, due to design issues," Pu wrote. This is signifi
  
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• Microsoft Is Exploring Energy-Saving Graphics Modes For Xbox and Windows Games

  08-11-2022 01:45 via games.slashdot.org
  A new survey on the Xbox Insider Hub suggests Microsoft is looking to expand on its energy saving features for Xbox consoles and potentially PC games too. Jez Corden writes via Windows Central: A recent questionnaire I came across in the Xbox Insider app on Windows PC detailed a potential list of new features Microsoft is exploring for games across consoles and PC. These new features pertain specifically to opting-in to reduce frame rates, resolution, and so on, with the goal of limiting energy
  
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• Airbnb Will Soon Let You Search By Total Price To Avoid Hidden Cleaning Fees

  08-11-2022 00:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Guests will soon be able to filter their search results by the total cost of the stay before taxes, which will include additional compulsory charges such as cleaning fees. The Verge reports: The appearance of these fees separate from nightly rates has long been criticized for deceptively making accommodations appear more affordable. Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky shared the announcement on Twitter along with a video demonstrating how the planned "display total price" switch can be enabled t
  
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