ICT news

• Police Complaint Removes Pirate Bay Proxy Portal From GitHub

  16-01-2023 23:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: GitHub has taken down a popular Pirate Bay proxy information portal from Github.io. The developer platform took action in response to a takedown request sent by City of London Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU). The takedown notice concludes that the site, which did not link to any infringing content directly, is illegal. [...] "This site is in breach of UK law, namely Copyright, Design & Patents Act 1988, Offences under t
  
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• Human Waste Safe for Growing Vegetables, Researchers Say

  16-01-2023 22:45 via science.slashdot.org
  As farmers in Europe and across the world grapple with increases in the cost of fertilizers, researchers suggest a solution may be closer to home in what people flush down the toilet. From a report: A peer-reviewed paper by scientists in Europe published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science found that fertilizer made from human feces and urine is safe to use, and that only extremely tiny quantities of chemicals from medicines or drugs, for example, would get into the food. Go
  
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• Warning of Unprecedented Heatwaves as El Nino Set To Return in 2023

  16-01-2023 22:05 via news.slashdot.org
  The return of the El Nino climate phenomenon later this year will cause global temperatures to rise "off the chart" and deliver unprecedented heatwaves, scientists have warned. From a report: Early forecasts suggest El Nino will return later in 2023, exacerbating extreme weather around the globe and making it "very likely" the world will exceed 1.5C of warming. The hottest year in recorded history, 2016, was driven by a major El Nino.
  It is part of a natural oscillation driven by ocean temperatu
  
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• Russian Strikes Sap Ukraine Mobile Network of Vital Power

  16-01-2023 21:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  Russia's attacks on Ukraine's electrical grid are straining the war-torn country's mobile-telephone network, leading to a global hunt for batteries and other equipment critical for keeping the communications system working. From a report: Ukraine's power outages aren't just putting out the lights. The electricity shortages also affect water supplies, heating systems, manufacturing and the cellular-telephone and internet network, a vital communications link in a nation where fixed-line telephones
  
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• Basecamp Details 'Obscene' $3.2 Million Bill That Prompted It To Quit the Cloud

  16-01-2023 20:20 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO of 37Signals -- which operates project management platform Basecamp and other products -- has detailed the colossal cloud bills that saw the outfit quit the cloud in October 2022. The CTO and creator of Ruby On Rails did all the sums and came up with an eye-watering cloud bill for $3,201,564 in 2022 -- or $266,797 each month. Plenty of that spend -- $759,983 -- went on compute, in the form of Amazon Web Services' EC2 and EKS serv
  
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• Wind Turbine as Tall as a 70-Story Building Announced in China

  16-01-2023 19:40 via news.slashdot.org
  Extreme engineering is becoming the norm as offshore wind continues to scale up. Sweeping the area of 12.3 standard NFL fields each rotation, with gargantuan 140-meter (459-ft) blades, the MySE 18.X-28X will be the largest wind turbine ever built. From a report: Only a week ago, we wrote about CSSC's new H260-18MW, the world's largest wind turbine. Partially constructed at a special and very spacious seaside facility, this offshore wind giant took over from MingYang's MySE 16.0-242 as the bigges
  
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• Artists File Class-Action Lawsuit Against Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney

  16-01-2023 19:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: What many of us had expected has finally happened, artist have sued for copyright infringement a couple of AI companies, as well as an art repository site {complaint here (PDF)}. Is this the end of AI tools? I don't think so, I'll try to explain why, this will not be a detailed look at the lawsuit, there will be more time for that, this is my own take on some of the technical issues that I think the complaint gets wrong, so this is not intended as an in-depth
  
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• England is Banning Sale of Some Single-Use Plastics

  16-01-2023 18:20 via news.slashdot.org
  England will ban businesses from selling and offering a variety of single-use plastics, including plates and cutlery, by the end of the year, the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced on Saturday. From a report: The government will begin enforcing the legislation in October 2023. In addition to some plastics, the ban will cover single-use trays and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers but will exempt plates, trays and bowls included with supermarket-r
  
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• FDA Vaccine Advisers 'Disappointed' and 'Angry' That Early Data About New Covid-19 Booster Shot Wasn't Presented For Review Last Year

  16-01-2023 17:40 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader writes: The pharmaceutical company Moderna didn't present a set of infection data on the company's new Covid-19 booster during meetings last year when [FDA] advisers discussed whether the shot should be authorized and made available to the publicThat data suggested the possibility that the updated booster might not be any more effective at preventing Covid-19 infections than the original shots. Specifically, Moderna hid data on actual infection rates among patients who were a
  
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• Germany Wants To Reuse Data Centers' Heat. No One Is Buying It

  16-01-2023 17:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Germany wants to force its power-hungry data centers to harness excess heat for warming residential homes -- an effort which the industry warns is likely to fall flat. From a report: The country has become one of the largest global hubs for data centers thanks to its clear data protection and security laws. Politicians are now trying to re-purpose some of their controversial excess heat to improve efficiency in light of the energy crisis. While in theory an innovative way to reduce the industry'
  
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• Laid-Off Workers Are Flooded With Fake Job Offers

  16-01-2023 16:20 via slashdot.org
  Employment scams using fake job opportunities to swindle applicants are on the rise and have found a new, prime target in laid-off tech workers. From a report: These schemes -- which often involve fictitious job listings, interviews with fake recruiters and sham onboarding processes to steal job seekers' money or identities -- proliferated during the pandemic alongside virtual hiring and remote work, according to Federal Trade Commission data. Scammers now appear to be zeroing in on workers who
  
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• Microsoft Faces EU Antitrust Warning Over Activision Deal

  16-01-2023 15:41 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft is likely to receive an EU antitrust warning about its $69 billion bid for "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard, Reuters reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, that could pose another challenge to completing the deal. From the report: The European Commission is readying a charge sheet known as a statement of objections setting out its concerns about the deal which will be sent to Microsoft in the coming weeks, the people said. The EU antitrust watchdog, which has
  
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• Amazon Cuts Opening For Software Development Jobs To 299 From 32,692 in May

  16-01-2023 15:00 via slashdot.org
  theodp writes: In case there are any doubts that the hiring party is over at Amazon, the number of open jobs in the Software Development category has declined to 299 in January 2023 from 32,692 in May 2022, according to Amazon's Jobs site. Internet Archive captures of Amazon's Software Development jobs category show the number of open jobs declined from 32,692 in May to 31,840 in June, 30,124 in July, 24,747 in August, 17,141 in September, 2,829 in November, and 373 in December.
  The number of So
  
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• The First CRISPR Gene-Edited Meat is Coming

  16-01-2023 13:34 via news.slashdot.org
  "Most companies are trying to create lab-grown meat with little to no genetic engineering, which despite shifts in attitude is still frowned on," writes Fast Company. And other companies "think that modifications like this will complicate getting regulatory approval," especially in Europe, which considers CRISPR to be a form of genetic modfication.But then there's the cultivated meat startup SciFi Foods (formerly Artemys Foods). Fast Company reports that its CEO/cofounder Joshua March became "ob
  
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• 'Search Everyone First?' Lawyers Challenge Use of Warrants to Find Google Searchers

  16-01-2023 09:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Bloomberg reports:After five people were killed in a 2020 arson in Colorado, law enforcement officials failed to turn up any leads through their initial investigative techniques. So they served a warrant to Google for anyone who had searched for the address of the fire, according to a court motion.
  Google eventually complied with the data request, helping law enforcement find suspects. Three teenagers who had searched the address were charged with murder. But the technique also drew a challenge
  
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• Bill Gates Discusses AI, Climate Change, and his Time at Microsoft

  16-01-2023 05:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Bill Gates took his 11th turn answering questions in Reddit's "Ask My Anything" forum this week — and occasionally looked back on his time at Microsoft:Is technology only functional for you nowadays, or is there a still hobby aspect to it? Do you for instance still do nerdy or geeky things in your spare time; e.g. write code?
  Yes. I like to play around and code. The last time my code shipped in a Microsoft product was 1985 — so a long time ago. I can no longer threaten when I think a
  
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• Symbolic Wyoming Proposal Urges Voluntary Phase-out of EV Purchases by 2035

  16-01-2023 03:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  Though the state of Wyoming is home to one of America's largest wind farms, "Wyoming's legislature is considering a resolution that calls for a phaseout of new electric vehicle sales by 2035," reports Engadget:In the proposed resolution, a group of lawmakers led by Senator Jim Anderson says Wyoming's "proud and valued" oil and gas industry has created "countless" jobs and contributed revenue to the state's coffers. They add that a lack of charging infrastructure within Wyoming would make the wid
  
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• Will This Next-Generation Display Technology Change the World?

  16-01-2023 01:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  "I saw the future at CES 2023," writes Geoffrey Morrison, describing "a new, top-secret prototype display technology" that could one day replace LCD and OLED for phones and TVs. "It was impossibly flat, like a vibrantly glowing piece of paper."
  Meet electroluminescent quantum dots:Until now, quantum dots were always a supporting player in another technology's game. A futuristic booster for older tech, elevating that tech's performance. QDs weren't a character on their own. That is no longer the
  
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• Report: 'Matter' Standard Has 'Undeniable Momentum'

  16-01-2023 00:39 via hardware.slashdot.org
  The Verge reports "undeniable momentum" for Matter, the royalty-free interoperability standard that "allows smart home devices from any manufacturer to talk to other devices directly and locally with no need to use the cloud."
  "Matter was the buzzword throughout CES 2023 this year, with most companies even remotely connected to the smart home loudly discussing their Matter plans."The new smart home standard was featured in several keynotes and displayed prominently in smart home device makers' b
  
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