ICT news

• A $402K GoFundMe Scam Leads to a Three-Year Prison Term

  08-01-2023 23:58 via yro.slashdot.org
  CNN reports that 32-year-old Katelyn McClure "has been sentenced to three years in state prison for her role in scamming more than $400,000 from GoFundMe donors, by claiming to be collecting money for a homeless man."In 2017, McClure claimed she ran out of gas and was stranded on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. The homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., supposedly saw her and gave her his last $20 for gas. McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, posted about the "good deed" on social media, incl
  
  Read more

• How a 'Holy Grail' Wheat Gene Discovery Could Keep Feeding a Warming Planet

  08-01-2023 22:45 via science.slashdot.org
  "Wheat now provides 20% of the calories consumed by humans every day," writes the Guardian. Unfortunately, "Thanks to human-induced global heating, our planet faces a future of increasingly severe heat waves, droughts and wildfires that could devastate harvests in future, triggering widespread famine in their wake.
  "But the crisis could be averted thanks to remarkable research now being undertaken by researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich."They are working on a project to make wheat mor
  
  Read more

• 'Please Don't Film Me in 2023'

  08-01-2023 21:43 via yro.slashdot.org
  The Verge is decrying "a genre of video that derives its entertainment value from unwitting passersby" — like filming pedestrians in a neighborhood in New York City:
  Many viewers on TikTok ate it up, but others pushed back on the idea that there's humor in filming and posting an unsuspecting neighbor for content. This year, I saw more and more resistance to the practice that's become normal or even expected.... [P]eople who have been featured in videos unbeknownst to them have pointed out
  
  Read more

• France Fines Apple for Illegally Harvesting iPhone Owners' Data for Ads

  08-01-2023 20:39 via apple.slashdot.org
  "France's data protection authority, CNIL, fined Apple €8 million (about $8.5 million) Wednesday," reports Gizmodo, "for illegally harvesting iPhone owners' data for targeted ads without proper consent."It's an unusual sanction for the iPhone maker, which has faced fewer legal penalties over privacy than its Big Tech competitors. Apple makes privacy a selling point for its devices, plastering "Privacy. That's iPhone." across 40-foot billboards across the world.... Apple failed to "obtain th
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Are Drone Delivery Services Finally Taking Off?

  08-01-2023 19:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Amazon isn't the only company that's started drone-delivery services. Kiplinger.com reports:Walmart has 37 stores set up for drone delivery to homes and businesses — six stores in Arizona, four in Arkansas, nine Walmarts in Florida, two in North Carolina, 11 in Texas, two in Utah and three in Virginia. Walmart has partnered with drone delivery service DroneUp Delivery to deliver customers' packages that weigh 10 pounds or less. Walmart says that more than 10,000 items are available for dro
  
  Read more

• New Linux Malware Downloader for Compromised Servers Spotted in the Wild

  08-01-2023 18:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  "A new Linux malware downloader created using SHC (Shell Script Compiler) has been spotted in the wild," reports the site Bleeping Computer, "infecting systems with Monero cryptocurrency miners and DDoS IRC bots...
  "The analysts say the attacks likely rely on brute-forcing weak administrator account credentials over SSH on Linux servers.... "According to ASEC researchers, who discovered the attack, the SHC loader was uploaded to VirusTotal by Korean users, with attacks generally focused on Linux
  
  Read more

• The Tech Pioneer Behind Sound Blaster Has Passed Away

  08-01-2023 17:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  "Singaporean inventor and tech pioneer Sim Wong Hoo passed away on January 4th at the age of 67," reports Engadget:Sim may not be a household name these days, but he founded Creative Technology (or Creative Labs in the US), the company behind the Sound Blaster brand of sound cards, back in 1981. Sound Blasters were some of the first sound cards available to consumers, and there was a time when you had to make sure your system worked with them if you wanted to listen to music and play games.
  Sim
  
  Read more

• CES's 'Worst in Show' Criticized Over Privacy, Security, and Environmental Threats

  08-01-2023 16:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  "We are seeing, across the gamut, products that impact our privacy, products that create cybersecurity risks, that have overarchingly long-term environmental impacts, disposable products, and flat-out just things that maybe should not exist."
  That's the CEO of the how-to repair site iFixit, introducing their third annual "Worst in Show" ceremony for the products displayed at this year's CES. But the show's slogan promises it's also "calling out the most troubling trends in tech." For example, th
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Seattle Public Schools Sue Social Media Giants for Youth Mental Health Crisis

  08-01-2023 13:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: "A new lawsuit filed by Seattle Public Schools against TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snap, Instagram, and their parent companies alleges that the social media giants have 'successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth' for their own profit, using psychological tactics that have led to a mental health crisis in schools," reports GeekWire. "The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks "the maximum statutory and civil penalties permit
  
  Read more

• TIOBE Calculates C++, C, and Python Rose the Most in Popularity in 2022

  08-01-2023 09:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  "The Tiobe index gauges language popularity using a formula that assesses searches on programming languages in Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and other search engines," writes InfoWorld. And they add that this year the "vaunted" C++ programming language was the index's biggest gainer in 2022.
  TIOBE's announcement includes their calculation that C++ rose 4.62% in popularity in 2022:Runners up are C (+3.82%) and Python (+2.78%). Interestingly, C++ surpassed Java to become the number 3 of the TIOB
  
  Read more

• Company Claims Its Push Buttons for Dogs Trains Them to 'Talk'

  08-01-2023 06:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  From a report:
  Have you ever wondered what your dog would say if it could speak to you? FluentPet promises the next best thing — buttons the company says you can train your pet to push if it's hungry, needs to go outside, or wants to play....
  "We find that actually when dogs kind of know that they're being understood because they have the precision and specificity of the buttons, then they complain less because they're no longer wondering whether they actually communicated what they wanted
  
  Read more

• Sunlight Reflection Startup Raises $500K to Test Its Atmospheric Cooling Plans

  08-01-2023 03:34 via news.slashdot.org
  https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/07/geoengineering-startup-mimicking-volcanic-eruption-to-cool-earth.html
  "Luke Iseman, a serial inventor and the former director of hardware at Y Combinator, has raised at least $500,000 to launch his sunlight reflection company, Make Sunsets," reports CNBC.
  "Make Sunsets plans to launch three balloon test launches releasing sulfur dioxide to cool the atmosphere in January from the land Iseman owns in Baja, Mexico."
  "We make reflective, high-altitude, biodegradable c
  
  Read more

• On Tuesday Windows 8.1 Gets Its Final Security Patches

  08-01-2023 00:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  "Windows 8.1 receives one more batch of security patches on the coming Tuesday," reports Ghacks, "before Microsoft lays the operating system to rest."Windows 8.1 does not get the same Extended Security Updates treatment that Windows 7 received for the past three years. Once the last patch has been released, it is game over for the operating system. Windows 8.1 users may continue using it, but the system's security issues will no longer be fixed by Microsoft or anyone else. Browsers and other pro
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!