ICT news

• Code-Generating AI Can Introduce Security Vulnerabilities, Study Finds

  28-12-2022 23:40 via developers.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A recent study finds that software engineers who use code-generating AI systems are more likely to cause security vulnerabilities in the apps they develop. The paper, co-authored by a team of researchers affiliated with Stanford, highlights the potential pitfalls of code-generating systems as vendors like GitHub start marketing them in earnest. The Stanford study looked specifically at Codex, the AI code-generating system developed by San Fran
  
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• The Rise and Bigger Rise of Mediterranean Sea Levels

  28-12-2022 23:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Over the last 20 years, there has been twice as much sea level rise on Italy's Amalfi coast as on Spain's Costa del Sol, a study shows. From a report: Researchers combined data from tide gauges and satellites with ice melt measurements to model sea level change across the Mediterranean basin since 1960. To their surprise, they found that sea level fell by about 9mm between 1960 and 1989, owing to increased atmospheric pressure over the basin. But since 1989, ocean warming and land ice melting ha
  
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• US To Require COVID Tests For Travelers Coming From China

  28-12-2022 22:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will require anyone arriving by air from China to provide a negative Covid test, following a surge of Covid-19 cases across China as Beijing has eased its strict zero-Covid rules. Politico reports: Under the new rules, which will take effect on Jan. 5, anyone two years and older will need to show a negative result from a test taken within two days of their departure from airports in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, administration officials
  
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• Misleading Ads Fueled Rapid Growth of Online Mental Health Companies

  28-12-2022 22:04 via news.slashdot.org
  In an advertisement on Facebook and Instagram, a middle-aged man holding a dumbbell says testosterone "literally changed my life," restoring his energy and happiness. What the October ad from telehealth startup Hone Health doesn't say is that the unidentified man is an actor who has never used the prescription drug. From a report: It doesn't mention that testosterone is approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for men with specific disorders and that among its risks are heart attacks an
  
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• US Charges Fraud in Mango Crypto Manipulation Case

  28-12-2022 21:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  U.S. prosecutors have filed criminal charges of commodities fraud and manipulation against a man accused of trying to steal about $110 million in October by rigging the Mango Markets cryptocurrency exchange. From a report: According to a complaint made public on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Avraham Eisenberg's trades in futures related to Mango's crypto token MNGO enabled him to withdraw $110 million in cryptocurrencies from other investors' deposits, with no apparent intention to repay t
  
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• 'Switch Pro' Reportedly Cancelled As Nintendo Shifts Focus To Next-Gen Console

  28-12-2022 20:30 via games.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Rumours of a Nintendo Switch Pro console have been swirling in the video game industry and the gaming community for years. However, it seems that Nintendo is ready to move on from the portable console. According to Digital Foundry's John Linneman, many developers acknowledged that a "mid-generation Switch update" was initially planned, but Nintendo opted to focus instead on building a new console. Nintendo has yet to officially announce its next video game sy
  
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• Police, Prosecutors Used Junk Science To Decide 911 Callers Were Liars

  28-12-2022 19:35 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Tracy Harpster, a deputy police chief from suburban Dayton, Ohio, was hunting for praise. He had a business to promote: a miracle method to determine when 911 callers are actually guilty of the crimes they are reporting. "I know what a guilty father, mother or boyfriend sounds like," he once said. Harpster tells police and prosecutors around the country that they can do the same. Such linguistic detection is possible, he claims, if you know how to analyze cal
  
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• SpaceX Launches 54 Upgraded Starlink Internet Satellites; Completes 60th Mission of the Year

  28-12-2022 18:32 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX launched the first batch of a new generation of Starlink satellites into orbit early Wednesday (Dec. 28) and nailed a rocket landing at sea to mark a record 60th flight of the year. From a report: A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 54 upgraded Starlink internet satellites -- the first generation 2 (Gen2) versions of the SpaceX fleet -- lit up the predawn sky with a smooth launch at 4:34 a.m. EST (0934 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. "Under our new license, we are n
  
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• US House Administration Arm Bans TikTok on Official Devices

  28-12-2022 17:45 via news.slashdot.org
  The popular Chinese video app TikTok has been banned from all U.S. House of Representatives-managed devices, according to the House's administration arm, mimicking a law soon to go into effect banning the app from U.S. government devices. From a report: The app is considered "high risk due to a number of security issues," the House's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) said in a message sent to all lawmakers and staff on Tuesday, and must be deleted from all devices managed by the House. The new
  
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• Can the AI Driving ChatGPT Help To Detect Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease?

  28-12-2022 16:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  The artificial intelligence algorithms behind the chatbot program ChatGPT -- which has drawn attention for its ability to generate humanlike written responses to some of the most creative queries -- might one day be able to help doctors detect Alzheimer's Disease in its early stages. EurekaAlert: Research from Drexel University's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems recently demonstrated that OpenAI's GPT-3 program can identify clues from spontaneous speech that are 80% a
  
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• Mickey's Copyright Adventure: Early Disney Creation Will Soon Be Public Property

  28-12-2022 15:55 via slashdot.org
  The version of the iconic character from "Steamboat Willie" will enter the public domain in 2024. But those trying to take advantage could end up in a legal mousetrap. From a report: There is nothing soft and cuddly about the way Disney protects the characters it brings to life. This is a company that once forced a Florida day care center to remove an unauthorized Minnie Mouse mural. In 2006, Disney told a stonemason that carving Winnie the Pooh into a child's gravestone would violate its copyri
  
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• Google Employees Brace for a Cost-Cutting Drive as Anxiety Mounts

  28-12-2022 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google has so far taken steps to streamline without mass layoffs, but employees are girding for deeper cuts. From a report: Google workers in Switzerland sent a letter this month to the company's vice president of human resources, outlining their worries that a new employee evaluation system could be used to cull the work force. "The number and spread of reports that reached us indicates that at least some managers were aggressively pressured to apply a quota" on a process that could lead to emp
  
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• FTX Customers File Class Action To Lay Claim To Dwindling Assets

  28-12-2022 14:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: FTX customers filed a class action lawsuit against the failed crypto exchange and its former top executives including Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday, seeking a declaration that the company's holdings of digital assets belong to customers. FTX pledged to segregate customer accounts and instead allowed them to be misappropriated and therefore customers should be repaid first, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. "Custo
  
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• No More TikTok On House of Representatives' Smartphones

  28-12-2022 11:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  TikTok will no longer be allowed on any device managed by the US House of Representatives. Ars Technica reports: On Tuesday, the House's Chief Administrative Office announced the ban of the popular video-sharing app, a move that comes just a week after legislation that would bar TikTok from all federal devices was introduced. Congresspersons and their staffers will not be able to download the app on managed devices, the CAO's Office of Cybersecurity said in an email seen by Reuters. The mobile a
  
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• Scientists Develop Blood Test For Alzheimer's Disease

  28-12-2022 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Scientists have developed a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease without the need for expensive brain imaging or a painful lumbar puncture, where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is drawn from the lower back. If validated, the test could enable faster diagnosis of the disease, meaning therapies could be initiated earlier. The Guardian reports: Current guidelines recommend detection of three distinct markers: abnormal accumulations of amyloid and tau proteins, as well as neurodegenerat
  
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• A Startup Is Releasing Particles Into the Atmosphere To Tweak the Climate

  28-12-2022 04:30 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: A startup claims it has launched weather balloons that may have released reflective sulfur particles in the stratosphere, potentially crossing a controversial barrier in the field of solar geoengineering. [...] Some researchers who have long studied the technology are deeply troubled that the company, Make Sunsets, appears to have moved forward with launches from a site in Mexico without any public engagement or scientific scrutiny.
  
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• Archer Maclean, Commodore 64 Developer, Dies At 60

  28-12-2022 03:02 via games.slashdot.org
  Game developer Archer Maclean recently passed away at the age of 60. Maclean was a longtime programmer and designer best known for Dropzone on the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64. Game Developer reports: Born January 28, 1962, Maclean's first game was the aforementioned Dropzone. Following the success of that title, he would go on to do design and graphics for 1986's International Karate (and its 1987 sequel, International Karate+), and several snooker simulation games, including Archer Maclean Pre
  
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• FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried Borrowed From Alameda To Buy Robinhood Shares

  28-12-2022 02:25 via slashdot.org
  Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from Alameda Research to purchase his stake in trading app Robinhood Markets (HOOD), according to court documents (PDF). CoinDesk reports: In an affidavit provided to a Caribbean court before his arrest, Bankman-Fried said he and FTX co-founder Gary Wang together borrowed over $546 million from Alameda via promissory notes in April and May. They used that money to capitalize Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd., the shell
  
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• Developer Uses iOS 16 Exploit To Change System Font Without Jailbreak

  28-12-2022 01:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  A developer managed to use an exploit found in iOS 16 to change the default font of the system without jailbreak. 9to5Mac reports: Zhuowei Zhang shared his project on Twitter, which he calls a "proof-of-concept app." According to Zhang, the app he developed uses the CVE-2022-46689 exploit to overwrite the default iOS font, so that users can customize the system's appearance with a different font other than the default (which is San Francisco). The CVE-2022-46689 exploit affects devices running i
  
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• Google Assistant Takes the Crown Beating Bixby and Siri In Voice Assistant Test

  28-12-2022 01:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Android Headlines: In a recent voice assistant test conducted by popular YouTuber MKBHD, Google Assistant emerged as the best voice assistant, outperforming Apple's Siri, Samsung's Bixby, and Amazon's Alexa. There are several reasons why Google Assistant stands out as the top voice assistant. Firstly, it is backed by Google's powerful artificial intelligence, which helps it to understand and interpret user requests accurately. Secondly, Google Assistant h
  
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• Microsoft's Making Excel's Formulas Even Easier

  28-12-2022 00:20 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft has announced it's making Excel's autocomplete even smarter, at least in the web version that comes with Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365). The Verge reports: Formula suggestions are pretty much what they say on the tin: if you type the equal sign into a cell, Excel for web will try to intelligently suggest what type of formula you should be using, given the data that's around it. For example, if you have a full of quarterly sales numbers and a column at the end labeled "tot
  
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