ICT news

• Reddit Now Lets You Mute Subreddits You Don't Like

  11-11-2022 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  In a post to /r/reddit, Reddit announced that it began rolling out a feature that will allow users to mute specific communities that contain content they don't want to see. Ars Technica reports: If you mute a subreddit using this feature, posts from it won't show up in your notifications, home feed recommendations, or Popular, Reddit's feed of the most upvoted content from across its various communities. Later, Reddit plans to apply muting to other places like "All" and "Discover." Muting a comm
  
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• Meta Is Exiting Portal Smart Display Business, Winding Down Work On Smartwatch Projects

  11-11-2022 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Meta is exiting its Portal smart display business and will wind down work on smartwatch projects, reports Reuters citing company executives during an employee townhall meeting on Friday. The news comes two days after Meta announced about 11,000 job cuts, or 13% of its workforce, "the first mass layoffs in the company's 18-year history."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Apple's $191 Billion Single-Day Surge Sets Stock-Market Record

  11-11-2022 23:02 via apple.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple's surge Thursday was one for the record books. The world's most valuable company added $190.9 billion in market value, the most ever by a US-listed company, as softer-than-expected inflation data buoyed equity markets across the board. The jump eclipsed Amazon's $190.8 billion gain in February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple, which after Thursday's 8.8% jump has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, now accounts for f
  
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• Microsoft Brings Helicopters, Gliders and the Spruce Goose To Its Flight Simulator

  11-11-2022 22:22 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the venerable Flight Simulator series today with the launch of the aptly named Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary update. As the company had teased before, this update to the sim will introduce helicopters and gliders, as well as a few classic aircraft. Gliders and helicopters aren't new to Flight Simulator, but when Microsoft and Asobo resurrected the sim back in 2020, they were still missing from the game. From a report: In total, the u
  
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• UN Initiative Will Use Satellites To Detect Methane Emission Hotspots

  11-11-2022 21:40 via news.slashdot.org
  The United Nations is betting that satellites could help the world catch up on emissions reductions. From a report: The organization has unveiled a Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) that, as the name implies, will warn countries and companies of "major" methane emission releases. The technology will use satellite map data to identify sources, notify the relevant bodies and help track progress on lowering this output.
  The initial MARS platform will focus on "very large" energy sector sourc
  
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• Italy's Biggest TV Piracy Network Dismantled

  11-11-2022 21:01 via yro.slashdot.org
  Italy's police said on Friday they had dismantled the country's largest network for online TV piracy, one that accounted for 70% of illegal streaming across the nation. From a report: The network had more than 900,000 users and yielded "millions of euros" in monthly profits, a police statement said. As part of the operation, premises were searched and material seized in more than 20 cities up and down the country, including Rome, Naples and Catania, the statement added. The raids were ordered by
  
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• Carbon Dioxide Emissions Increased in 2022 as Crises Roiled Energy Markets

  11-11-2022 20:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Global fossil fuel emissions will most likely reach record highs in 2022 and do not yet show signs of declining, researchers said Thursday, a trend that puts countries further away from their goal of stopping global warming. From a report: This year, nations are projected to emit roughly 36.6 billion tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide by burning coal, natural gas and oil for energy, according to new data from the Global Carbon Project. That's 1 percent more than the world emitted in 2021 and
  
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• 'The Firm That Bought My Car For More Than I Paid New Has Lost 98% of Its Value'

  11-11-2022 19:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Carvana, the used car dealer that trusts robotic algorithms to buy your car practically sight unseen, was the third-fastest company to ever make it onto the Fortune 500 -- only Amazon and Google did it faster. But for the third day in a row, its stock is trading for just around $7 a share, plummeting 98 percent from its all-time high of over $360 last August. From a report: My first thought on reading the news: maybe the company shouldn't let robots pay people more than their cars cost brand-new
  
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• Google Says Surveillance Vendor Targeted Samsung Phones With Zero-Days

  11-11-2022 19:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google says it has evidence that a commercial surveillance vendor was exploiting three zero-day security vulnerabilities found in newer Samsung smartphones. From a report: The vulnerabilities, discovered in Samsung's custom-built software, were used together as part of an exploit chain to target Samsung phones running Android. The chained vulnerabilities allow an attacker to gain kernel read and write privileges as the root user, and ultimately expose a device's data. Google Project Zero securit
  
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• Engineers Explore Radical New Designs for Commercial Planes To Cut Energy Consumption and Emission

  11-11-2022 18:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  Modern airliner designs date from the 1950s: a metal tube and swept-back wings with jet engines slung underneath. They get you where you're going and back. But after decades of research, something very different could be flying you on vacation by the late 2030s. From a report: Unconventional designs such as "blended-wing" shapes now used for some military jets, which combine the cabin and wings in one piece, have been floated for years as possibilities for passenger aircraft. Now the rise of cli
  
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• CRISPR Cancer Trial Success Paves the Way For Personalized Treatments

  11-11-2022 17:40 via science.slashdot.org
  A small clinical trial has shown that researchers can use CRISPR gene editing to alter immune cells so that they will recognize mutated proteins specific to a person's tumours. Those cells can then be safely set loose in the body to find and destroy their target. It is the first attempt to combine two hot areas in cancer research: gene editing to create personalized treatments, and engineering immune cells called T cells so as to better target tumours. From a report: The approach was tested in 1
  
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• FTC Restores Rigorous Enforcement of Law Banning Unfair Methods of Competition

  11-11-2022 17:01 via news.slashdot.org
  The Federal Trade Commission issued a statement today that restores the agency's policy of rigorously enforcing the federal ban on unfair methods of competition. From a report: Congress gave the FTC the unique authority to identify and police against these practices, beyond what the other antitrust statutes cover. But in recent years the agency has not always carried out that responsibility consistently. The FTC's previous policy restricted its oversight to a narrower set of circumstances, makin
  
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• Japan To Invest Up To $500 Million To Manufacture Advanced Chips

  11-11-2022 16:20 via slashdot.org
  Japan said on Friday it will invest up to 70 billion yen ($500 million) in a new semiconductor company led by tech firms including Sony and NEC as it rushes to re-establish itself as a lead maker of advanced chips. From a report: "Semiconductors are going to be a critical component for the development of new leading-edge technologies such as AI, digital industries and in healthcare," Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a news briefing. The new chip company will be
  
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• Sam Bankman-Fried's Cryptocurrency Exchange FTX Files for Bankruptcy

  11-11-2022 15:25 via slashdot.org
  Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., according to a company statement posted on Twitter. It caps off a tumultuous week for one of the biggest names in the sector. From a report: In the space of days, FTX went from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy as liquidity dried up, customers demanded withdrawals, and rival exchange Binance ripped up its nonbinding agreement to buy the company. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried admitted on Thursday
  
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• Why Correspondence Chess Is Still Popular Among Elite Players

  11-11-2022 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Players can take days or even weeks to take a turn, and they have embraced the use of software to find the best moves. The New York Times: [...] The International Correspondence Chess Federation allows players to consult engines during their games, making the matches a hybrid competition that involves the strategy and planning of humans guided by the accuracy of machines. In correspondence chess, players may spend days or even weeks on a single move. A typical game can last for more than a year.
  
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• California Regulators Propose Cutting Compensation For Rooftop Solar

  11-11-2022 14:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: For a second time in less than a year, regulators in California moved on Thursday to roll back the compensation that homeowners receive from utilities for the excess electricity their rooftop solar panels send to the electric grid -- payments that power companies and some consumer groups have argued hurt poor and low-income households.
  The new proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission would cut the benefit for almost all
  
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• Single Hubble Image Captured Supernova At Three Different Times

  11-11-2022 11:00 via science.slashdot.org
  John Timmer writes via Ars Technica: Over the last few decades, we've gotten much better at observing supernovae as they're happening. Orbiting telescopes can now pick up the high-energy photons emitted and figure out their source, allowing other telescopes to make rapid observations. And some automated survey telescopes have imaged the same parts of the sky night after night, allowing image analysis software to recognize new sources of light. But sometimes, luck still plays a role. So it is wit
  
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• Debris From Destroyed Space Shuttle Challenger Found On Ocean Floor 36 Years On

  11-11-2022 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  A large section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger has been found buried in sand at the bottom of the Atlantic, more than three decades after the tragedy that killed a schoolteacher and six others. CBC.ca reports: NASA's Kennedy Space Center announced the discovery Thursday. "Of course, the emotions come back, right?" said Michael Ciannilli, a NASA manager who confirmed the remnant's authenticity. When he saw the underwater video footage, "My heart skipped a beat, I must say, and it broug
  
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• New Drug Reverses Neural and Cognitive Effects of a Concussion

  11-11-2022 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from SciTechDaily: ISRIB, a tiny molecule identified by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers can repair the neural and cognitive effects of concussion in mice weeks after the damage, according to a new study. ISRIB blocks the integrated stress response (ISR), a quality control process for protein production that, when activated chronically, can be harmful to cells. The study, which was recently published in the Proceedings of the Nati
  
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• Kaspersky To Kill Its VPN Service In Russia Next Week

  11-11-2022 03:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  Kaspersky is stopping the operation and sales of its VPN product, Kaspersky Secure Connection, in the Russian Federation, with the free version to be suspended as early as November 15, 2022. BleepingComputer reports: As the Moscow-based company informed on its Russian blog earlier this week, the shutdown of the VPN service will be staged, so that impact on customers remains minimal. Purchases of the paid version of Kaspersky Secure Connection will remain available on both the official website an
  
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• BlockFi Pauses Withdrawals In Wake of FTX Collapse

  11-11-2022 03:02 via slashdot.org
  Crypto Lender BlockFi said it could not conduct business as normal and would be limiting activity in the wake of FTX's collapse. CoinDesk reports: The company said in a tweet that the "lack of clarity" around FTX's current situation meant it would pause client withdrawals. It also told clients not to deposit to its wallet or interest accounts. Developing...Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• How Mem Plans To Reinvent Note-Taking Apps With AI

  11-11-2022 02:25 via mobile.slashdot.org
  David Pierce writes via The Verge: In the summer of 2019, Kevin Moody and Dennis Xu started meeting with investors to pitch their new app. They had this big idea about reshaping the way users' personal information moves around the internet, coalescing all their data into a single tool in a way that could actually work for them. But they quickly ran into a problem: all of their mock-ups and descriptions made it seem like they were building a note-taking app. And even in those hazy early days of p
  
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• FTX Assets Frozen By Bahamian Regulator

  11-11-2022 02:02 via slashdot.org
  Bahamian regulators have frozen the assets of FTX Digital Markets and related parties, calling it a "prudent course of action" to "preserve assets and stabilize the company," according to a press release on Thursday. CoinDesk reports: The Securities Commission of the Bahamas also suspended FTX's registration and appointed an attorney -- Brian Sims, a senior partner at Lennox Paton -- as a provisional liquidator of the assets. FTX is based in the Bahamas and is a separate entity from FTX US."The
  
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• WeWork Will Close About 40 Locations As Losses Narrow

  11-11-2022 01:45 via slashdot.org
  WeWork said Thursday that it was going to close roughly 40 "underperforming" locations in the United States and tempered its revenue forecast for the year, highlighting the challenges the co-working company still faces after its near collapse and subsequent bailout in 2019. The New York Times reports: For the third quarter, WeWork said it lost $568 million, an improvement from the same period last year, when it lost $802 million. Revenue of $817 million in the latest quarter was more than 20 per
  
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• Amazon Introduces 'Sparrow' Robotic Arm That Can Do Repetitive Warehouse Tasks

  11-11-2022 01:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Amazon on Thursday showed off a new robot that could one day assist warehouse workers with some of the more tedious aspects of the job. The company unveiled "Sparrow," a robotic arm that can pluck millions of items of varying shapes and sizes, on stage at the Delivering the Future conference near Boston, where it showcased new robotics, transportation and last-mile delivery technologies. Amazon says Sparrow uses computer vision and artificial intell
  
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• NSA Urges Organizations To Shift To Memory Safe Programming Languages

  11-11-2022 00:20 via developers.slashdot.org
  In an press release published earlier today, the National Security Agency (NSA) says it will be making a strategic shift to memory safe programming languages. The agency is advising organizations explore such changes themselves by utilizing languages such as C#, Go, Java, Ruby, or Swift. From the report: The "Software Memory Safety" Cybersecurity Information Sheet (PDF) highlights how malicious cyber actors can exploit poor memory management issues to access sensitive information, promulgate una
  
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