ICT news

• You Can Hook Your MIDI Keyboard Up To a Website With Firefox 108

  14-12-2022 23:40 via news.slashdot.org
  A new feature in Firefox version 108 that may please musicians is the improved support for the Web MIDI API. "The MIDI standard is very close to a remarkable 40 years old, and Web MIDI does just what the name implies: it allows web apps to send and receive MIDI signals to and from musical instruments," reports The Register. "In principle this will allow sequencer apps to be implemented in Javascript." From the report: Amusingly, the last time The Reg mentioned Web MIDI, it was because Apple was
  
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• YouTube Moderation Bots Will Start Issuing Warnings, 24-Hour Bans

  14-12-2022 23:00 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: YouTube has announced a plan to crack down on spam and abusive content in comments and livestream chats. Of course, YouTube will be doing this with bots, which will now have the power to issue timeouts to users and instantly remove comments that are deemed abusive. YouTube's post says, "We've been working on improving our automated detection systems and machine learning models to identify and remove spam. In fact, we've removed over 1.1 bill
  
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• PayPal Launches Integration With MetaMask Wallet for Ethereum Transactions

  14-12-2022 22:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  Users of the popular MetaMask Web3 wallet will soon be able to buy the second-most-popular cryptocurrency, Ether, via PayPal. From a report: Similar to PayPal's checkout feature at online stores like Etsy and eBay, the integration with ConsenSys's MetaMask will let users buy and transfer Ether by logging in into MetaMask, tapping the "buy" button, and logging into PayPal before making a purchase.
  The company said in a statement that select U.S.-based MetaMask customers will be able to use PayPal
  
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• NSA Says Chinese Hackers Are Exploiting a Zero-Day Bug in Popular Networking Gear

  14-12-2022 21:40 via it.slashdot.org
  The U.S. National Security Agency is warning that Chinese government-backed hackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in two widely used Citrix networking products to gain access to targeted networks. From a report: The flaw, tracked as CVE-2022-27518, affects Citrix ADC, an application delivery controller, and Citrix Gateway, a remote access tool, and are both popular in enterprise networks. The critical-rated vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to remotely run malicious code
  
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• Indonesia's New Criminal Code Bans Online Insults of the President

  14-12-2022 21:01 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: On December 6, Indonesia's parliament passed a criminal code that drew wide criticism for criminalizing premarital sex and cohabitation outside marriage, among other practices. But the code, known as KUHP, also heavily extends the government's reach over online speech -- not just in traditional media outlets, but on social media platforms.
  The bill sets out new or strengthened controls on a wide array of actions, from spreading fake news and Marxist-Leninist
  
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• Z-Wave Alliance Says Z-Wave Source Code Project Is Complete, Now Open And Widely Available To Members

  14-12-2022 20:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  The Z-Wave Alliance, the Standards Development Organization (SDO) dedicated to advancing the smart home and Z-Wave technology, today announced the completion of the Z-Wave Source Code project, which has been published and made available on GitHub to Alliance members. From a report: The Z-Wave Source Code Project opens development of Z-Wave and enables members to contribute code to shape the future of the protocol under the supervision of the new OS Work Group (OSWG). The goal of the project is t
  
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• US Senators Warren, Marshall Introduce Digital Assets Anti-Money Laundering Bill

  14-12-2022 19:41 via news.slashdot.org
  U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) are introducing a bill to crack down on money laundering and financing of terrorists and rogue nations [PDF] via cryptocurrency. From a report:
  If it becomes law, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act will bring know-your-customer (KYC) rules to crypto participants such as wallet providers and miners and prohibit financial institutions from transacting with digital asset mixers, which are tools designed to obscure the ori
  
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• Bookforum Is Closing, Leaving Ever Fewer Publications Devoted To Books

  14-12-2022 19:00 via news.slashdot.org
  The literary magazine Bookforum has announced that its current issue would be its last [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], dealing a significant blow to literary journalism, which has been vastly diminished in recent years. The New York Times: "We are so proud of the contribution Bookforum has made to the literary community," the magazine said on Twitter after announcing its closure, "and are immensely grateful to the advertisers, subscribers and booksellers who made
  
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• Microsoft Targets Internet Expansion in Africa, Longer-Term Cloud Adoption

  14-12-2022 18:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  Microsoft aims to secure internet access for 100 million more people in Africa by 2025, teaming up with a satellite provider and setting the stage for longer-term cloud adoption, its President Brad Smith said. From a report: The software maker has long pushed to bring more people online, playing the role of facilitator among telecoms and electricity providers, governments and non-profits. Since 2017, it helped widen connectivity for 50 million people, including nearly 10 million in Africa, under
  
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• Ask Slashdot: What Should Mozilla Do To Boost Firefox's Market Share?

  14-12-2022 17:40 via ask.slashdot.org
  couchslug writes: Mozilla's Firefox once commanded a large chunk of the browser market share, but now it stands under a pitiful 5 percent. Google money removes need to compete from a management POV as they'll get paid either way but they're still leaving money on the table.
  What should Mozilla do to help Firefox regain its lost market share? Not so long ago Internet Explorer was only used to download Firefox when geeks reloaded Windows machines for others. Today, Edge, however pathetic, still ou
  
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• Tether To Phase Out Lending of Its Own Coins To Customers

  14-12-2022 17:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Tether said it is winding down its practice of lending out its own stablecoins to customers by next year, addressing a broad risk to the wider crypto world. From a report: In a blog post published on its website Tuesday, the company said it would reduce secured loans issued and denominated in tether to zero throughout 2023. The growth in Tether's secured-loan program was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article earlier this month. With about $66 billion tether in circulation, tether is the m
  
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• Microsoft Digital Certificates Once Again Abused To Sign Malware

  14-12-2022 16:21 via it.slashdot.org
  Microsoft has once again been caught allowing its legitimate digital certificates to sign malware in the wild, a lapse that allows the malicious files to pass strict security checks designed to prevent them from running on the Windows operating system. ArsTechnica: Multiple threat actors were involved in the misuse of Microsoft's digital imprimatur, which they used to give Windows and endpoint security applications the impression malicious system drivers had been certified as safe by Microsoft.
  
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• Secret Software Change Allowed FTX To Use Client Money

  14-12-2022 15:41 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: In mid-2020, FTX's chief engineer made a secret change to the cryptocurrency exchange's software. He tweaked the code to exempt Alameda Research, a hedge fund owned by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, from a feature on the trading platform that would have automatically sold off Alameda's assets if it was losing too much borrowed money. In a note explaining the change, the engineer, Nishad Singh, emphasized that FTX should never sell Alameda's positions. "Be ext
  
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• Supreme Court Asks for Biden Administration's Views in Google Copyright Case

  14-12-2022 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the Biden administration to weigh in on song-lyric website Genius' attempt to revive a lawsuit over Google's alleged theft of its work. From a report: The justices are considering whether to hear ML Genius Holdings LLC's bid to overturn a U.S. appeals court's ruling that its case against Google LLC was preempted by federal copyright law. The Supreme Court often asks for the solicitor general's input on cases in which the U.S. government may have an interest
  
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• FBI's Vetted Info Sharing Network 'InfraGard' Hacked

  14-12-2022 14:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: On Dec. 10, 2022, the relatively new cybercrime forum Breached featured a bombshell new sales thread: The user database for InfraGard, including names and contact information for tens of thousands of InfraGard members. The FBI's InfraGard program is supposed to be a vetted Who's Who of key people in private sector roles involving both cyber and physical security at companies that manage most of the nation's critical infrastructures -- inc
  
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• Tim Cook Admits That iPhones Use Sony Camera Sensors

  14-12-2022 11:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  Tim Cook has tweeted an admission that Apple uses Sony image sensors in its iPhones as part of the CEO's supplier tour of Japan. "We've been partnering with Sony for over a decade to create the world's leading camera sensors for iPhone," Cook tweeted, and thanked Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida for showing him around the Kumamoto facility. The Verge reports: Apple largely keeps tight-lipped about the specifics of the hardware components that go into each iPhone, so outright confirming that it's used
  
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• Tesla Launches Steam In Its Cars With Thousands of Games

  14-12-2022 08:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Tesla has launched Steam integration inside its Model S and Model X electric cars with thousands of games now playable. Electrek reports: Today, Tesla launched Steam Beta for Model S and Model X as part of its "holiday update." We reported all the details of Tesla's holiday update earlier today for most Tesla vehicles, but the Steam integration is only for the refreshed Model S and Model X produced over the last two years. That's because Tesla's two flagship vehicles are equipped with a more pow
  
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• Moderna Says mRNA Cancer Vaccine Reduces Melanoma's Return By 44%

  14-12-2022 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The company said a possible melanoma vaccine it is studying with pharmaceutical giant Merck fared well in a small study of patients who had the cancer surgically removed. The drugmakers said a combination of the vaccine and Merck's immunotherapy Keytruda led to a statistically significant improvement in survival before the cancer returned in patients with advanced melanoma. [...] Like Spikevax (the vaccine used to help protect agains
  
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• Google Execs Warn Company's Reputation Could Suffer If It Moves Too Fast On AI-Chat Tech

  14-12-2022 02:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google employees asked executives at an all-hands meeting whether the AI chatbot that's going viral represents a "missed opportunity" for the company. Google's Jeff Dean said the company has much more "reputational risk" in providing wrong information and thus is moving "more conservatively than a small startup." CNBC reports: Google employees are seeing all the buzz around ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that was released to the public at the end of November and quickly turned into
  
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• Forbes Publishes Transcript of SBF's Planned Testimony

  14-12-2022 02:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  Longtime Slashdot reader UnanimousCoward writes: Forbes has published a transcript of SBF's planned testimony as well as a synopsis which, of course, will not happen now. At no point does he admit fraudulent behavior and does not address the (multi-)billion dollar loans that helped contribute to the flywheel Ponzi scheme. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested yesterday by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He was set to testify virtually before the House Financial Services Committee about the
  
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• China Readying $143 Billion Package For Its Chip Firms In Face of US Curbs

  14-12-2022 01:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  China is working on a more than 1 trillion yuan ($143 billion) support package for its semiconductor industry, three sources said, in a major step towards self sufficiency in chips and to counter U.S. moves aimed at slowing its technological advances. Reuters reports: Beijing plans to roll out what will be one of its biggest fiscal incentive packages over five years, mainly as subsidies and tax credits to bolster semiconductor production and research activities at home, said the sources. It sign
  
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• Apple Fixes 'Actively Exploited' Zero-Day Affecting Most iPhones

  14-12-2022 00:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Apple has confirmed that an iPhone software update it released two weeks ago fixed a zero-day security vulnerability that it now says was actively exploited. The update, iOS 16.1.2, landed on November 30 and rolled out to all supported iPhones -- including iPhone 8 and later -- with unspecified "important security updates."In a disclosure to its security updates page on Tuesday, Apple said the update fixed a flaw in WebKit, the browser engine
  
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• UC Berkeley Launches SkyPilot To Help Navigate Soaring Cloud Costs

  14-12-2022 00:10 via news.slashdot.org
  Researchers at U.C. Berkeley's Sky Computing Lab have launched SkyPilot, an open source framework for running ML and Data Science batch jobs on any cloud, or multiple clouds, with a single cloud-agnostic interface. Datanami reports: SkyPilot uses an algorithm to determine which cloud zone or service provider is the most cost-effective for a given project. The program considers a workload's resource requirements (whether it needs CPUs, GPUs, or TPUs) and then automatically determines which locati
  
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