ICT news

• AI Art Apps Are Cluttering the App Store Following Lensa AI's Success

  12-12-2022 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Lensa's AI popularity has had a notable impact on the App Store's Top Charts. The popular photo and video editing app recently went viral over its new "magic avatars" feature, powered by the open source Stable Diffusion model, allowing users to turn their selfies into styled portraits of themselves as sci-fi, anime, or fantasy characters, among other artistic renderings. Consumer demand for the app, and for AI edits more broadly, has now pushe
  
  Read more

• Poor Software Costs the US 2.4 Trillion

  12-12-2022 22:21 via it.slashdot.org
  Software quality issues may have cost the U.S. economy $2.41 trillion in 2022. From a report: This statistic is unearthed in Synopsys's 'The Cost of Poor Software Quality in the US: A 2022 Report.' The report's findings reflect that as of 2022, the cost of poor software quality in the U.S. -- which includes cyberattacks due to existing vulnerabilities, complex issues involving the software supply chain, and the growing impact of rapidly accumulating technical debt -- have led to a build-up of hi
  
  Read more

• UK Arrests Five For Selling 'Dodgy' Point of Sale Software

  12-12-2022 21:41 via yro.slashdot.org
  Tax authorities from Australia, Canada, France, the UK and the USA have conducted a joint probe into "electronic sales suppression software" -- applications that falsify point of sale data to help merchants avoid paying tax on their true revenue. From a report: A Friday announcement from the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (known as the J5), states that the probe "resulted in the arrest of five individuals in the United Kingdom who allegedly designed and sold electronic sales suppression
  
  Read more

• PC Price Cuts Are Coming as Manufacturers Rethink Their Portfolios

  12-12-2022 21:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: According to a recent IDC forecast, the PC and tablet markets are expected to shrink. Shipments for tablets and PCs will decline almost 12% in 2022, the research firm reported, and are expected to decline further in 2023. But excess inventory is already forcing suppliers to heavily discount products and shift from the premium segment to more mid-range products, the analysts said. On the other hand, the report states that tablet and PC shipments will continue
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Fortinet Releases Security Updates for FortiOS

  12-12-2022 20:57 via us-cert.cisa.gov
  Original release date: December 12, 2022
  Fortinet has released security updates to address a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CVE-2022-42475) in FortiOS. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system. This vulnerability has been exploited in the wild. CISA encourages users and administrators to review Fortinet security advisory FG-IR-22-368, apply the necessary updates, and validate systems against the IOCs listed in the advisory.  This pro
  
  Read more

• Xnspy Stalkerware Spied on Thousands of iPhones and Android Devices

  12-12-2022 20:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  A little-known phone monitoring app called Xnspy has stolen data from tens of thousands of iPhones and Android devices, the majority whose owners are unaware that their data has been compromised. From a report: Xnspy is one of many so-called stalkerware apps sold under the guise of allowing a parent to monitor their child's activities, but are explicitly marketed for spying on a spouse or domestic partner's devices without their permission. Its website boasts, "to catch a cheating spouse, you ne
  
  Read more

• Hype Around Esports Is Fading as Investors and Sponsors Dry Up

  12-12-2022 19:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  The once-thriving esports industry has fallen on hard times as funding sources dwindle and signs abound that athletic competition via video games doesn't have anywhere near the earning potential investors anticipated. From a report: Sports-business billionaires and gaming executives had hopes that esports could one day could scale into an organization like the National Basketball Association. But after a boom five years ago, several prominent esports teams and organizations, particularly in the
  
  Read more

• Support for Windows 7 and 8 Fully Ends in January, Including Microsoft Edge

  12-12-2022 19:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge browser was an improvement over the initial version of Edge in many ways, including its support for Windows 7 and Windows 8. But the end of the road is coming: Microsoft has announced that Edge will end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 in mid-January of 2023, shortly after those operating systems stop getting regular security updates. From a report: Support will also end for Microsoft Edge Webview2, which can use Edge's rendering engine to embed webpages in non
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Meta Kills Facebook Connectivity After Nearly a Decade

  12-12-2022 17:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  After almost a decade of running the operation, Meta has shut down Facebook Connectivity. From a report: Meta, formerly Facebook, confirmed to Light Reading it would fold what is now called Meta Connectivity into two other groups within the company: "Infrastructure" and "Central Products." The moves make sense considering Meta's "Infrastructure" team handles the company's work in areas such as subsea cabling. The action will not affect Meta's participation in the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), whi
  
  Read more

• Japan To Join US Effort to Tighten Chip Exports To China

  12-12-2022 17:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle to join the US in tightening controls over the export of advanced chipmaking machinery to China, Bloomberg News reported according to people familiar with the matter, a potentially debilitating blow to Beijing's technology ambitions. From the report: The two countries are likely to announce in the coming weeks that they'll adopt at least some of the sweeping measures the US rolled out in October to restrict the sale of advanced semiconductor man
  
  Read more

• How Skyglow Pollution Is Separating Us From the Stars

  12-12-2022 17:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Light infrastructure has expanded alongside population growth but it's not only star gazing in jeopardy -- cultures, wildlife, science and human health are all threatened. From a report: Some researchers call light pollution cultural genocide. Generations of complex knowledge systems, built by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders upon a once-clear view of the Milky Way, are being lost. In the natural world, the mountain pygmy possum, a marsupial native to Australia, is critically e
  
  Read more

• Fossil Fuel Recruiters Banned From Three More UK Universities

  12-12-2022 16:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Three more UK universities have banned fossil fuel companies from recruiting students through their career services, with one citing the industry as a "fundamental barrier to a more just and sustainable world." From a report: The University of the Arts London, University of Bedfordshire, and Wrexham Glyndwr University join Birkbeck, University of London, which was the first to adopt a fossil-free careers service policy in September. The moves follow a campaign supported by the student-led group
  
  Read more

• Xbox Boss Says Sony Wants To 'Grow By Making Xbox Smaller'

  12-12-2022 15:40 via games.slashdot.org
  Xbox chief and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Sony's opposition to the Activision Blizzard deal is influenced by the PlayStation-maker's desires to "protect its dominance" in consoles. From a report: "Sony is trying to protect its dominance on the console. The way they grow is by making Xbox smaller," Spencer said on the Second Request podcast when discussing "the one major opposer to the deal": Sony. "Sony is trying to protect its dominance on the console. The way they grow is by making
  
  Read more

• US Justice Dept Split Over Charging Binance as Crypto World Falters

  12-12-2022 13:36 via news.slashdot.org
  Splits between U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are delaying the conclusion of a long-running criminal investigation into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Reuters reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The investigation began in 2018 and is focused on Binance's compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering laws and sanctions, these people said. Some of the at least half dozen federal prosecutors involved in the case believe the evidence a
  
  Read more

• C++ Zooms Past Java in Programming Language Popularity Contest

  12-12-2022 13:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  "Java is no longer among the top three most popular programming languages in the TIOBE Index," reports the Register, "one of several not particularly definitive yardsticks by which such things are measured."According to Paul Jansen, CEO of Netherlands-based TIOBE Software, the rising popularity of C++ has pushed Java down a notch. The index's rankings are now:- Python in first place
  - C second
  - C++ third, and
  - Java fourth.
  C++ stepped up to third, and Java fell to fourth. "C++ surpassed Java f
  
  Read more

• Meet Two Startups Bringing Robots to Restaurants

  12-12-2022 09:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  It's a coffee shop and and robotics startup. Founded in 2020, Seattle-based Artly has seven locations in Washington, Oregon and California, reports the Seattle Times, noting that each location has a mechanically dexterous robotic arm that they're calling a "barista bot" that "makes the espresso, pours the milk, steams the foam and puts it all together, topping it off with a carefully drawn foam leaf."
  [P]ressing market needs were behind the innovation. Cost concerns and high employee turnover in
  
  Read more

• In Fusion Breakthrough, US Scientists Reportedly Produce Reaction With Net Energy Gain

  12-12-2022 06:55 via hardware.slashdot.org
  "U.S. scientists have reportedly carried out the first nuclear fusion experiment to achieve a net energy gain," reports the Independent, "a major breakthrough in a field that has been pursuing such a result since the 1950s, and a potential milestone in the search for a climate-friendly, renewable energy source to replace fossil fuels."
  The experiment took place in recent weeks at the government-funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where researchers used a process known as
  
  Read more

• Linux 6.1 Released With Initial Support for Rust-Based Kernel Development

  12-12-2022 04:18 via linux.slashdot.org
  "Linus has released the 6.1 kernel," reports LWN.net — and it's the one with initial support for kernel development in Rust.Elsewhere LWN explains the specifics of this milestone:
  No system with a production 6.1 kernel will be running any Rust code, but this change does give kernel developers a chance to play with the language in the kernel context and get a sense for how Rust development feels....
  There are other initiatives underway, including the writing of an Apple graphics driver in t
  
  Read more

• OSnews Decries 'The Mass Extinction of Unix Workstations'

  12-12-2022 02:18 via tech.slashdot.org
  Anyone remember the high-end commercial UNIX workstations from a few decades ago — like from companies like IBM, DEC, SGI, and Sun Microsystems?Today OSnews looked back — but also explored what happens when you try to buy one today> :
  As x86 became ever more powerful and versatile, and with the rise of Linux as a capable UNIX replacement and the adoption of the NT-based versions of Windows, the days of the UNIX workstations were numbered. A few years into the new millennium, virtu
  
  Read more

• Teenager's Incurable Cancer Cleared With Revolutionary DNA-Editing Technique

  12-12-2022 00:45 via science.slashdot.org
  "A teenage girl's incurable cancer has been cleared from her body," reports the BBC, "in the first use of a revolutionary new type of medicine...."Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital used "base editing" to perform a feat of biological engineering to build her a new living drug. Six months later the cancer is undetectable, but Alyssa is still being monitored in case it comes back.
  Alyssa, who is 13 and from Leicester, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in May last year...
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!