ICT news

• T-Mobile Suffers Another Data Breach, Affecting 37 Million Accounts

  19-01-2023 23:43 via it.slashdot.org
  
  The nation's second-largest wireless carrier on Thursday disclosed that a "bad actor" took advantage of one of its application programming interfaces to gain data on "approximately 37 million current postpaid and prepaid customer accounts." CNET reports: In an 8K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the carrier says that it was able to trace and stop the "malicious activity" within a day of learning about it. T-Mobile also says that the API that was used does not allow for acce
  
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• Microsoft Will End Sale of Windows 10 Licenses to Consumers This Month

  19-01-2023 23:15 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has been available on the retail market for over seven years and was superseded by Windows 11 in October 2021. However, despite its age, Windows 10 remains the most popular version of Windows, with a global market share of 67.95% in December 2022 compared to 16.97% for Windows 11, according to StatCounter. But it now looks like Microsoft is ready to put the brakes on issuing new Windows 10 licenses to everyday consumers
  
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• New FTX Chief Says Crypto Exchange Could Restart

  19-01-2023 22:40 via slashdot.org
  
  FTX's new chief executive, John J. Ray III, said he is looking into the possibility of reviving the bankrupt crypto exchange as he works to return money to the failed company's customers and creditors. From a report: In his first interview since taking over FTX in November, Mr. Ray said that he has set up a task force to explore restarting FTX.com, the company's main international exchange. Although top FTX executives have been accused of criminal misconduct, some customers have praised its tech
  
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• Netflix Founder Reed Hastings Stepping Down As CEO

  19-01-2023 22:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings announced on Thursday he will step down as chief executive, handing the reins of the streaming service to his longtime partner and co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, and the company's chief operating officer, Greg Peters. Reuters reports: Sarandos and Peters will share the title of chief executives, with Hastings serving as executive chairman. The change is effective immediately, representing the culmination of a decade of succession planning by the board. Both Peters and Sar
  
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• Cheaters Hacked an AI Bot and Beat the Rocket League Elite

  19-01-2023 22:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Last week, Reed Wilen, an elite gamer who uses the handle "Chicago" in Rocket League, a popular vehicular-soccer game, encountered a strange and troubling new opponent. From a report: The player seemed like a novice at first, moving their rocket-powered vehicle in a hesitant and awkward way. Then they caught and balanced the ball perfectly on the hood of their car, and dribbled it with superhuman skill towards the goal at high speed. Not only was the other driver clearly a bot -- it was also rid
  
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• Fewer Companies Are Paying Ransoms To Hackers, Researchers Say

  19-01-2023 21:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Fewer companies that are infected with ransomware are coughing up extortion payments demanded by hackers, according to new research from Chainalysis. From a report: In findings published on Thursday, the blockchain forensics firm estimated that ransom payments -- which are almost always paid in cryptocurrency -- fell to $456.8 million in 2022 from $765.6 million in 2021, a 40% drop. "That doesn't mean attacks are down, or at least not as much as the drastic dropoff in payments would suggest," ac
  
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• A Font Feud Brews After State Dept. Picks Calibri Over Times New Roman

  19-01-2023 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. State Department is going sans serif: It has directed staff at home and overseas to phase out the Times New Roman font and adopt Calibri in official communications and memos, in a bid to help employees who are visually impaired or have other difficulties reading. From a report: In a cable sent Tuesday and obtained by The Washington Post, Secretary of State Antony Blinken directed the department to use a larger sans-serif font in high-level internal documents, and gave the department's d
  
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• India's Top Court Rejects Google Plea To Block Android Antitrust Ruling in Major Blow

  19-01-2023 20:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has been dealt a significant blow in one of its key overseas markets. India's Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block an antitrust order that requires the Android-maker to make a series of changes that could topple its financial viability. From a report: India's apex court rejected to block the ruling against Google by the nation's antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India. The court extended the deadline for enforcement of CCI's order by one week, however. The matter will no
  
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• Supreme Court Poised To Reconsider Key Tenets of Online Speech

  19-01-2023 20:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The cases could significantly affect the power and responsibilities of social media platforms. From a report: For years, giant social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have operated under two crucial tenets. The first is that the platforms have the power to decide what content to keep online and what to take down, free from government oversight. The second is that the websites cannot be held legally responsible for most of what their users post online, shielding the companies from la
  
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• Ubisoft Devs Grill Boss On Shifting Blame And Chasing Trends

  19-01-2023 19:25 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot faced tough questions from some exhausted and fed-up staff about recent missteps and future plans in a company-wide Q&A session on Wednesday. The meeting comes just a week after the Assassin's Creed publisher announced new cancellations, delays, and cost-cutting measures, and told employees "the ball is in your court" to help get the $3 billion company back on track. From a report: "The ball is now in our court -- for years it has been in your court so why did you
  
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• ChatGPT Listed as Author on Research Papers. Many Scientists Disapprove.

  19-01-2023 15:09 via tech.slashdot.org
  The artificial-intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT that has taken the world by storm has made its formal debut in the scientific literature -- racking up at least four authorship credits on published papers and preprints. Journal editors, researchers and publishers are now debating the place of such AI tools in the published literature, and whether it's appropriate to cite the bot as an author. From a report: Publishers are racing to create policies for the chatbot, which was released as a free-to
  
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• Greenland Temperatures Hottest In 1,000 Years, Scientists Report

  19-01-2023 14:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: As humans fiddle with the planet's thermostat, scientists are piecing together Greenland's history by drilling ice cores to analyze how the climate crisis has impacted the island country over the years. The further down they drilled, the further they went back in time, allowing them to separate which temperature fluctuations were natural and which were human-caused. After years of research on the Greenland ice sheet -- which CNN visited when the core
  
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• Tech-Backed Code.org Bringing BBC Micro:bit To US K-5 Classrooms

  19-01-2023 11:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  theodp writes: On Tuesday, the Micro:bit Educational Foundation, a UK-based education non-profit "on a mission to inspire all children to achieve their best digital future," announced a partnership with US-based and tech giant-backed nonprofit Code.org to offer teachers computing resources to complement use of the handheld BBC micro:bit physical computing device as an extension to the Code.org CS Fundamentals curriculum, which is aimed at introducing Computer Science to children in Kindergarten-
  
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• Amazon To Close Charitable Program AmazonSmile

  19-01-2023 08:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon will be closing its charity program, AmazonSmile, in the coming weeks in order to "focus its philanthropic giving to programs with greater impact." Nexstar reports: In a letter sent to AmazonSmile customers Wednesday, Amazon explained the program "has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped." "With so many eligible organizations -- more than 1 million globally -- our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin," Amazon wrote.AmazonSmile was launched in 2013. Th
  
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• Amazon Fined By Regulators For Unsafe Warehouse Work Conditions

  19-01-2023 04:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Federal regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that three Amazon warehouse facilities had violated legislation designed to require employers to provide safe working environments. Investigations found that Amazon workers are at high risk for back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), especially in warehouse environments that prioritize speed over safety. Amazon must pay a $60,269 fine for t
  
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• Stephen Colbert To Produce TV Series Based On Roger Zelanzny's Sci-Fi Novels 'The Chronicles of Amber'

  19-01-2023 03:02 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Stephen Colbert is joining the team that is adapting Roger Zelazny's "The Chronicles of Amber" for television. Variety reports: Colbert will now executive produce the potential series under his Spartina production banner. Spartina joins Skybound Entertainment and Vincent Newman Entertainment (VNE) on the series version of the beloved fantasy novels, with Skyboudn first announcing their intention to develop the series back in 2016. The books have been cited as an influence on "Game of Thrones," w
  
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• iOS 16.3 Expands Advanced Data Protection Option For iCloud Encryption Globally

  19-01-2023 02:25 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Apple today announced that Advanced Data Protection is expanding beyond the United States. MacRumors reports: Starting with iOS 16.3, the security feature will be available globally, giving users to option to enable end-to-end encryption for many additional iCloud data categories, including Photos, Notes, Voice Memos, Messages backups, device backups, and more. iOS 16.3 is currently in beta and expected to be released to the public next week.By default, Apple stores encryption keys for some iClo
  
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• Adobe Says It Isn't Using Your Photos To Train AI Image Generators

  19-01-2023 02:05 via slashdot.org
  
  In early January, Adobe came under fire for language used in its terms and conditions that seemed to indicate that it could use photographers' photos to train generative artificial intelligence systems. The company has reiterated that this is not the case. PetaPixel reports: The language of its "Content analysis" section in its Privacy and Personal Data settings says that by default, users give Adobe permission to "analyze content using techniques such as machine learning (e.g., for pattern reco
  
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• Boston Dynamics' Latest Atlas Video Demos a Robot That Can Run, Jump and Now Grab and Throw

  19-01-2023 01:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Boston Dynamics released a demo of its humanoid robot Atlas, showing it pick up and deliver a bag of tools to a construction worker. While Atlas could already run and jump over complex terrain, the new hands, or rudimentary grippers, "give the robot new life," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The claw-like gripper consists of one fixed finger and one moving finger. Boston Dynamics says the grippers were designed for heavy lifting tasks and were first demonstrated in a Super Bowl commercial w
  
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• Google's Stadia Cloud Gaming Platform Shuts Down Today

  19-01-2023 00:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Google is officially shutting down its Stadia cloud gaming service today, Wednesday, January 18, after having failed to gain the traction that the company was expecting. Google servers that host the service are due to shut down at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors reports: Launched in November 2019, the service was designed to allow for cloud-based gaming across a range of devices, including PCs, Chromebooks, Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Reports began emerging in early 2021 of Stadia's underwhelmi
  
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