ICT news

• Protocol, the Tech-News Focused Website, Will Shutter and Lay Off Its Entire Staff

  15-11-2022 23:40 via news.slashdot.org
  Protocol, the upstart technology news website launched by former Politico owner and publisher Robert Allbritton in early 2020, will shutter later this week and lay off dozens of staffers, people familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday. From the report: Staffers were told at an all-hands meeting Tuesday that the news organization will cease publishing on its website Thursday. The outlet's flagship newsletter, Source Code, will continue publishing for several more weeks, but all other newslet
  
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• Epic Strikes Back At Apple's iOS 'Security' Defense In Appeals Court

  15-11-2022 23:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: It has been over a year now since a US District Court ruled that Apple did not violate antitrust law by forcing iOS developers (like plaintiff and Fortnite-maker Epic Games) to use its App Store and in-app payments systems. But that doesn't mean the case is settled, as both sides demonstrated Monday during oral arguments in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The hearing was full of arcane discussion of legal standards and procedures
  
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• LF Europe's Project Sylva Wants To Create an Open Source Telco Cloud Stack

  15-11-2022 22:20 via linux.slashdot.org
  The Linux Foundation Europe (LF Europe) -- the recently launched European offshoot of the open source Linux Foundation -- today announced the launch of Project Sylva, which aims to create an open source telco cloud framework for European telcos and vendors. TechCrunch: This is the first project hosted by LF Europe and is a good example of what the organization is trying to achieve. The project aims to create a production-grade open source telco cloud stack and a common framework and reference im
  
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• Mystery of BBC Radio's First Broadcasts Revealed 100 Years On

  15-11-2022 21:41 via radio.slashdot.org
  The BBC is celebrating the centenary of its first official broadcast - a news bulletin that included a court report from the Old Bailey, details of London fog disruption, and billiards scores. From a report: It was broadcast by London station 2LO, but new research shows many early BBC moments came from northern England. Manchester station 2ZY aired the first children's show and introduced the first regular weather forecast. Birmingham's 5IT station broadcast the first "official concert" The BBC
  
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• YouTube Expands Shopping Features Following Digital Advertising Slowdown

  15-11-2022 21:01 via news.slashdot.org
  YouTube is ramping up its push into ecommerce by introducing shopping features to the world's biggest videos site, seeking to diversify revenue streams during a slowdown in digital advertising. From a report: The platform, a division of Google parent Alphabet, has introduced the new function to Shorts, YouTube's short-form video offering that was launched in 2020 to compete against the popularity of fast-growing rival TikTok. This will mean users will be able to buy products as they scroll throu
  
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• Qualcomm Publishes, then Deletes, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Announcement

  15-11-2022 20:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  In a blog post initially published Tuesday and since taken down, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, its new marquee chipset offering. The new features of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, as described on the since altered blog, include:1. Upgraded Hexagon DSP, with support for microtile inferencing and a bigger tensor accelerator (up to 4.35X increase in AI perf when compared to 8 Gen 1 in MobileBert)
  2. Support for INT4 with a 60% perf/watt improvement
  3. Sensing Hub with dual AI processors
  4. Up
  
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• Banking Giants and New York Fed Start 12-week Digital Dollar Pilot

  15-11-2022 19:40 via news.slashdot.org
  Global banking giants are starting a 12-week digital dollar pilot with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the participants announced on Tuesday. From a report: Citigroup, HSBC, Mastercard and Wells Fargo are among the financial companies participating in the experiment alongside the New York Fed's innovation center, they said in a statement. The project, which is called the regulated liability network, will be conducted in a test environment and use simulated data, the New York Fed said. The
  
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• Australia To Consider Banning Ransomware Payments

  15-11-2022 19:00 via it.slashdot.org
  Australia will consider banning ransomware payments in a bid to undermine the cybercriminal business model, a government minister said on Sunday. From a report: Clare O'Neil, the minister for home affairs and cybersecurity, confirmed to Australia's public broadcaster ABC that the government was looking at criminalizing extortion payments as part of the government's cyber strategy. The announcement follows several large security incidents affecting the country, including most significantly the da
  
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• Apple Launches Emergency SOS via Satellite in US and Canada

  15-11-2022 18:21 via apple.slashdot.org
  Apple on Tuesday announced that Emergency SOS via satellite is officially available to iPhone 14 users in the US and Canada. Next month, Apple will launch Emergency SOS via satellite in France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK. Apple is enabling the feature on all iPhone 14 models that are running iOS 16.1, which was released near the end of October. From a report: If you have the feature, you'll see a new section detailing your phone's new capability of connecting to satellites, and offering a demo
  
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• Singapore's Sea Slashed 7,000 Jobs in Six Months To Curb Losses

  15-11-2022 17:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Sea has cut about 7,000 jobs, or roughly 10% of its workforce, in the past six months as it fights to stem ballooning losses and win back investors, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. From the report: Among the latest reductions is about 100 positions at Sea's e-commerce arm Shopee, and those affected started to receive notices on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. The newest cuts are a part of several waves of layoffs since June.
  The ga
  
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• 'Metaverse Will Be Our Slow Death': Meta Employees Hit Out At Zuckerberg

  15-11-2022 17:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Meta employees are taking aim at Mark Zuckerberg in employee reviews on Blind, the anonymous forum. From a report: Some reviews, posted on Wednesday -- the day Meta laid off 13% of its workforce -- are negative, although others are more positive. One user likened the layoffs to the "hunger games" and another said the Facebook owner had an "uncertain future." Insider surveyed the workplace community app, where staff can air their grievances in posts and reviews, to see what was being said about M
  
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• Amazon Starts Virtual Health Referral Service Linking Patients to Doctors

  15-11-2022 16:21 via science.slashdot.org
  Amazon is starting a health referral service that seeks to link patients to virtual visits with providers who treat conditions like acne, hair loss and allergies. From a report: The initiative, called Amazon Clinic, is the Seattle company's latest effort to break into health care. It already operates an online pharmacy, and is in the process of buying 1Life Healthcare, which manages clinics under the One Medical brand, for $3.49 billion.
  In a blog post announcing the service on Tuesday, Amazon c
  
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• FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Attempts To Raise Fresh Cash Despite Bankruptcy

  15-11-2022 15:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  FTX filed for bankruptcy last week, but the cryptocurrency exchange's founder still thinks that he can raise enough money to make users whole, WSJ reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: Mr. Bankman-Fried, alongside a few remaining employees, spent the past weekend calling around in search of commitments from investors to plug a shortfall of up to $8 billion in the hopes of repaying FTX's customers, the people said. The efforts to cover that shortfall have so f
  
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• Studies Find Automatic Braking Can Cut Crashes Over 40%

  15-11-2022 15:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Two new U.S. studies show that automatic emergency braking can cut the number of rear-end automobile crashes in half, and reduce pickup truck crashes by more than 40%. From a report: The studies released Tuesday, one by a government-auto industry partnership and the other by the insurance industry, each used crash data to make the calculations. Automatic emergency braking can stop vehicles if a crash is imminent, or slow them to reduce the severity. Some automakers are moving toward a voluntary
  
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• The 'World's Largest Floating Wind Farm' Produces Its First Power

  15-11-2022 14:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: A facility described as the world's largest floating wind farm produced its first power over the weekend, with more turbines set to come online before the year is out. In a statement Monday, Norwegian energy firm Equinor -- better known for its work in the oil and gas industry -- said power production from Hywind Tampen's first wind turbine took place on Sunday afternoon. While wind is a renewable energy source, Hywind Tampen will be used to help po
  
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• Waymo Is Using Its Self-Driving Taxis To Create Real-Time Weather Maps

  15-11-2022 11:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Waymo's latest car sensor arrays are "creating real-time weather maps to improve ride hailing services in Phoenix and San Francisco," reports Engadget. "The vehicles measure the raindrops on windows to detect the intensity of conditions like fog or rain." From the report: The technology gives Waymo a much finer-grained view of conditions than it gets from airport weather stations, radar and satellites. It can track the coastal fog as it rolls inland, or drizzle that radar would normally miss. Wh
  
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• World's Largest Telescope Array Is Almost Ready To Stare Straight Into the Sun

  15-11-2022 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  China just completed construction on what is now the world's largest telescope array at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The country plans to aim it at our sun as part of what one expert is calling "the golden age of solar astronomy." Popular Mechanics reports: As reported in Nature earlier today, the Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope (DSRT) cost 100 million yuan ($14 million USD), and is comprised of over 300 antenna dishes situated in a 3 kilometer (1.87 miles) circumference formation. Initial te
  
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• The First Cubesat To Fly and Operate At the Moon Has Successfully Arrived

  15-11-2022 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: After a journey of nearly five months, taking it far beyond the Moon and back, the little CAPSTONE spacecraft has successfully entered into lunar orbit. "We received confirmation that CAPSTONE arrived in near-rectilinear halo orbit, and that is a huge, huge step for the agency," said NASA's chief of exploration systems development, Jim Free, on Sunday evening. "It just completed its first insertion burn a few minutes ago. And over the next f
  
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• A New Website Backed By Al Gore Tracks Big Polluters By Name

  15-11-2022 02:30 via news.slashdot.org
  A new global tracker created by the nonprofit Climate Trace is helping to make clear exactly where major greenhouse gas emissions are originating. According to NPR, the interactive map "uses a combination of satellites, sensors and machine learning to measure the top polluters worldwide." From the report: It observes how much greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- are being emitted at specific locations, such as power plants and oil refineries. Former Vice President Al
  
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• Crypto Meltdown Continues, Next Up: BlockFi

  15-11-2022 01:50 via slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader kid_wonder writes: BlockFi, a crypto exchange, had suspended withdrawals on Friday and now appears to be having serious issues directly related to the FTX meltdown. In an email to customers this morning they said: "The rumors that a majority of BlockFi assets are custodied at FTX are false. That said, we do have significant exposure to FTX and associated corporate entities that encompasses obligations owed to us by Alameda, assets held at FTX.com, and undrawn amounts fr
  
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• Xbox Transparency Report Reveals Up To 4.78 Million Accounts Were Proactively Suspended In Just Six Months

  15-11-2022 01:10 via games.slashdot.org
  Microsoft has released its first Digital Transparency Report for the Xbox gaming platform, revealing that the company took proactive action against throwaway accounts that violated its community guidelines 4.78 million times within a six-month period, usually in the form of temporary suspension. The Verge reports: The report, which provides information regarding content moderation and player safety, covers the period between January 1st and June 30th this year. It includes a range of information
  
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• FTX's Failure Is Sparking a Massive Regulatory Response

  15-11-2022 00:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  "The collapse of FTX will likely give rise to a number of criminal and civil actions against the exchange and its executives, like former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried," reports CoinDesk, citing a number of legal experts. "It's also likely to push forward actual regulatory changes, either via lawmakers or through federal agencies themselves." An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: FTX filed for bankruptcy last Friday, days after halting withdrawals and a little over a week after Coin
  
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