ICT news

• Microsoft Scraps Plans For Dual-Screen Surface Duo 3, Pivots To New Foldable Screen Design

  10-01-2023 23:40 via mobile.slashdot.org
  According to Windows Central's Zac Bowden, Microsoft's next foldable Surface phone will feature "a more traditional foldable design, with a 180-degree hinge, internal foldable screen and external cover display." Bowden writes: I'm told this new foldable device came about after the company had already finalized a dual-screen design for Surface Duo 3. This original dual-screen design was supposed to ship at the end of 2023 as the next Surface Duo, featuring narrower and taller edge-to-edge display
  
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• Microsoft Releases January 2023 Security Updates

  10-01-2023 23:22 via us-cert.cisa.gov
  Original release date: January 10, 2023
  Microsoft has released updates to address multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.CISA encourages users and administrators to review Microsoft’s January 2023 Security Update Guide and Deployment Information and apply the necessary updates. This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.
  
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• The Fairphone 2 Will Hit End-of-Life After 7 Years of Updates

  10-01-2023 23:02 via mobile.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: It can be done. Android manufacturers can actually support a phone for a sizable amount of time. Fairphone has announced the end of life for the Fairphone 2, which will be March 2023. That phone was released in October 2015, so that's almost seven-and-a-half years of updates. Fairphone is a very small Dutch company with nowhere near as many resources as Google, Samsung, BBK, and the other Big-Tech juggernauts, yet it managed to outlast them
  
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• DHS, CISA Building AI-Based Cybersecurity Analytics Sandbox

  10-01-2023 22:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Two of the US government's leading security agencies are building a machine learning-based analytics environment to defend against rapidly evolving threats and create more resilient infrastructures for both government entities and private organizations. From a report: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) -- in particular its Science and Technology Directorate research arm -- and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) picture a multicloud collaborative sandbox that will beco
  
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• Facebook's Bridge To Nowhere

  10-01-2023 21:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  The tech giant had already remade the virtual world. For a brief period, it also tried to make it easier for people in the Bay Area to get to work. Then it gave up. From a report: In the early summer of 2017, Warren Slocum walked into a warehouse in Menlo Park, Calif., to meet with members of Facebook's staff and was mesmerized. Sitting before him was a 3-D model of the neighborhoods surrounding Facebook's headquarters. On a nearby white board, one of Facebook's real estate strategists had mappe
  
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• Would You Zap Yourself With Electricity To Get Into Shape?

  10-01-2023 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  One of the latest trends in boutique fitness is electrifying. Literally. From a report: Called whole-body electrical muscle stimulation, or EMS, the technique requires users to wear an electrode-studded suit that attaches to a machine. The suit delivers electrical impulses that make each exercise more difficult as muscles fight against the impulses. The result is a more efficient way to build muscle mass and strength, say proponents, who claim that one 20-minute session of whole-body zapping ach
  
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• Roomba Testers Feel Misled After Intimate Images Ended Up on Facebook

  10-01-2023 20:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  An investigation recently revealed how images of a minor and a tester on the toilet ended up on social media. iRobot said it had consent to collect this kind of data from inside homes -- but participants say otherwise. From a report: When Greg unboxed a new Roomba robot vacuum cleaner in December 2019, he thought he knew what he was getting into. He would allow the preproduction test version of iRobot's Roomba J series device to roam around his house, let it collect all sorts of data to help imp
  
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• App Store Developers Have Earned $320 Billion To Date, Says Apple

  10-01-2023 19:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  Apple today shared an update on its subscription businesses and global App Store, noting that the tech company has now paid out a record $320 billion to app developers since 2008 -- a number that reflects the revenue apps have generated, minus Apple's commission. From a report: In addition, the tech giant said it now has more than 900 million paid subscriptions across Apple services, with subscriptions on the App Store driving a "significant" part of that figure. [...] The company noted that mor
  
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• Fed Official Says There's 'a Lot More Work To Do' To Bring Down Inflation

  10-01-2023 19:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Tuesday she expects more interest rate increases ahead, with higher rates to prevail for a while until inflation is subdued. From a report: "I am committed to taking further actions to bring inflation back down to our goal," the central bank official said in remarks prepared for a speech in Florida. "In recent months, we've seen a decline in some measures of inflation but we have a lot more work to do, so I expect the [Federal Open Market Committee]
  
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• BMW Doubles Up On Paid Subscriptions In the US, Charges $105 A Year For Remote Engine Start

  10-01-2023 18:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: BMW is expanding the number of feature subscriptions it is offering in the United States. The marque has revealed that five vehicle features are now available through its subscription service, consisting of Remote Engine Start, Drive Recorder, Traffic Camera, Driving Assistance Plus with Stop&Go, and Parking Assistant Professional.
  Most of these features are available through either a 1-month, 1-year, or 3-year subscription, or can be purchased outright f
  
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• Ciphr, Encrypted App That Served Organized Crime, Rebrands as Enterprise Software

  10-01-2023 17:40 via slashdot.org
  The company behind Ciphr, an encrypted messaging platform that was especially popular among organized criminals and high tier drug traffickers, is beta testing a new app in an apparent rebrand from its long running reputation as a tech tool of the underground. From a report: The news shows the continuing ruptures across the underground encrypted phone industry after an escalating series of law enforcement hacks and investigations. The rebrand by OnyxCorp, the company that made Ciphr, is the late
  
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• GOP-Led House To Probe Alleged White House Collusion With Tech Giants

  10-01-2023 17:00 via politics.slashdot.org
  Republicans in the House plan to scrutinize communications between the Biden administration and big technology and social-media companies to probe whether they amounted to the censorship of legitimate viewpoints on issues such as Covid-19 that ran counter to White House policy. WSJ: House Republicans are expected as soon as Tuesday to launch the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The panel is expected to seek to illuminate what some Republicans say have been effo
  
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• Rackspace Founder Says It's 'On Trajectory of Death'

  10-01-2023 16:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  Richard Yoo, who founded and helped build the website hosting company that became San Antonio's premier technology firm, believes he's watching its collapse. From a report: The reputation of the company now known as Rackspace Technology, he said, "is eroding rapidly" after years of shifting business plans, executive shuffles, financial losses, staff cuts and, finally, the Dec. 2 ransomware attack that left tens of thousands of customers without access to their email, contact and calendar data.
  "
  
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• Hackers Hit Websites of Danish Central Bank, Other Banks

  10-01-2023 15:47 via it.slashdot.org
  Hackers have disrupted access to the websites of Denmark's central bank and seven private banks in the country this week, according to the central bank and an IT firm that serves the industry. From a report: The websites of the central bank and Bankdata, a company that develops IT solutions for the financial industry, were hit by so-called distributed denials of service (DDoS), which direct traffic towards targeted servers in a bid to knock them offline. A spokesperson for the central bank said
  
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• Coinbase To Cut 20% Jobs, Abandon 'Several' Projects To Weather Downturns in Crypto Market

  10-01-2023 15:00 via slashdot.org
  Coinbase plans to cut 950 jobs, or about 20% of its workforce, and shut down "several" projects as the U.S. crypto exchange giant looks to reduce its expenses to increase its "chances of doing well in every scenario." From a report: This is the second round of major layoff at the crypto exchange, which eliminated 18% of its workforce, or nearly 1,100 jobs last June, but there was "no way to reduce our expenses significantly enough, without considering changes to headcount," Coinbase co-founder a
  
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• Microsoft's New AI Can Simulate Anyone's Voice With 3 Seconds of Audio

  10-01-2023 14:00 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from ArsTechnica: On Thursday, Microsoft researchers announced a new text-to-speech AI model called VALL-E that can closely simulate a person's voice when given a three-second audio sample. Once it learns a specific voice, VALL-E can synthesize audio of that person saying anything -- and do it in a way that attempts to preserve the speaker's emotional tone. Its creators speculate that VALL-E could be used for high-quality text-to-speech applications, speech ed
  
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• US Federal Agency Considers Ban On Gas Stoves Amid Health Concerns

  10-01-2023 11:30 via news.slashdot.org
  A federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves as concerns about indoor pollution linked to childhood asthma rise, Bloomberg first reported. CNN reports: A US Consumer Product Safety commissioner told Bloomberg gas stove usage is a "hidden hazard." "Any option is on the table. Products that can't be made safe can be banned," agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said in a Bloomberg interview. The report said the agency plans "to take action" to address the indoor pollution caused by stoves
  
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• Microsoft In Talks To Invest $10 Billion In ChatGPT Owner

  10-01-2023 09:45 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft is in talks to invest $10 billion into OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, which will value the San Francisco-based firm at $29 billion, Semafor reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters reports: The funding includes other venture firms and deal documents were sent to prospective investors in recent weeks, with the aim to close the round by the end of 2022, the report said. This follows a Wall Street Journal report that said OpenAI was in talks to sell existing shar
  
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• Britain's Groundbreaking Satellite Launch Ends in Failure

  10-01-2023 08:25 via science.slashdot.org
  Britain's attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in bitter disappointment early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit said its rocket had suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching orbit. From a report: The "horizontal launch" mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin's LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 called "Cosmic Girl", and later released over the Atlantic Ocean. "We appear
  
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• Biotech Startup Says Mice Live Longer After Genetic Reprogramming

  10-01-2023 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: A small biotech company claims it has used a technology called reprogramming to rejuvenate old mice and extend their lives, a result suggesting that one day older people could have their biological clocks turned back with an injection -- literally becoming younger. The life-extension claim in rodents, made by Rejuvenate Bio, a San Diego biotech company, appears in a preprint paper on the website BioRxiv and hasn't been peer reviewed
  
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• US Sets 2024 Deadline For 5G Signal Safeguards On Aircraft

  10-01-2023 03:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  US aviation safety regulators intend to require passenger and cargo aircraft to meet requirements by early next year for navigation gear to deal with potentially unsafe interference from 5G mobile-phone signals. Bloomberg reports: The equipment is needed because the newer wireless signals are on frequencies near those used by planes' radio altimeters, which determine altitude over ground and can cause them to malfunction, the Federal Aviation Administration has found. Wireless companies are eage
  
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• MSI Intends 'To Continue With Afterburner' Overclocking App Despite Not Paying Its Russian Dev

  10-01-2023 02:25 via developers.slashdot.org
  Jacob Ridley writes via PC Gamer: MSI Afterburner is an app used the world over for graphics card monitoring, overclocking, and undervolting. It's become pretty synonymous with general GPU tinkering, yet the app's developer has suggested it might not have long left to live in a forum post earlier this month. MSI disagrees, telling us "we fully intend to continue with MSI Afterburner." MSI Afterburner is developed by Alexey 'Unwinder' Nicolaychuk, a Russian national who has kept the overclocking
  
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• Apple Is Reportedly Making An All-In-One Cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth Chip

  10-01-2023 01:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  Apple is working on a new in-house chip that would power cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth functionality on its devices, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Verge reports: The company is also developing its own chip that would replace the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip it currently uses from Broadcom, Bloomberg says, which it wants to begin using in devices in 2025. Bloomberg also shared some new information about Apple's efforts to develop its own cellular modems to replace Qualcomm's. While Qualc
  
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• Researchers Track GPS Location of All of California's New Digital License Plates

  10-01-2023 01:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: A team of security researchers managed to gain "super administrative access" into Reviver, the company behind California's new digital license plates which launched last year. That access allowed them to track the physical GPS location of all Reviver customers and change a section of text at the bottom of the license plate designed for personalized messages to whatever they wished, according to a blog post from the researchers. "An actual att
  
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• Seattle Schools Sue TikTok, Meta and Other Platforms Over Youth 'Mental Health Crisis'

  10-01-2023 00:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  Seattle public schools have sued the tech giants behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, accusing them of creating a "mental health crisis among America's Youth." Engadget reports: The 91-page lawsuit (PDF) filed in a US district court states that tech giants exploit the addictive nature of social media, leading to rising anxiety, depression and thoughts of self-harm. "Defendants' growth is a product of choices they made to design and operate their platforms in ways that exploi
  
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