ICT news

• Stable Diffusion 'Memorizes' Some Images, Sparking Privacy Concerns

  01-02-2023 23:50 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, a group of AI researchers from Google, DeepMind, UC Berkeley, Princeton, and ETH Zurich released a paper outlining an adversarial attack that can extract a small percentage of training images from latent diffusion AI image synthesis models like Stable Diffusion. It challenges views that image synthesis models do not memorize their training data and that training data might remain private if not disclosed. Recently, AI image synthe
  
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• The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Is a Minor Update To a Spec Monster

  01-02-2023 23:12 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  At Samsung's first Galaxy Unpacked event of the year, the company unveiled its new Galaxy S23 devices: the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Here's what The Verge's Allison Johnson says about the most premium phone of the bunch, the Galaxy S23 Ultra: Compared to the outgoing model, it comes with an updated processor, a new 200-megapixel main camera sensor, and a tweak to the form factor. The built-in S Pen is still here, naturally. And thankfully the price hasn't inflated. In fact, the
  
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• 'Pig-Butchering' Scam Apps Sneak Into Apple's App Store and Google Play

  01-02-2023 22:21 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  In the past year, a new term has arisen to describe an online scam raking in millions, if not billions, of dollars per year. It's called "pig butchering," and now even Apple is getting fooled into participating. From a report: Researchers from security firm Sophos said on Wednesday that they uncovered two apps available in the App Store that were part of an elaborate network of tools used to dupe people into putting large sums of money into fake investment scams. At least one of those apps also
  
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• Netflix Unveils Plans To Prevent Password Sharing

  01-02-2023 21:41 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Netflix has unveiled its plans to prevent password sharing between people in households outside of an account owner's primary location. From a report: As reported by gHacks, the streaming service has detailed how it aims to crackdown on account sharing in an updated FAQ. The information varies between countries, but it looks like the company will be paying careful attention to the devices used to log in to accounts from now on. The FAQ pages for US and UK subscribers currently highlight that dev
  
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• A 3D Printer Isn't Cool. You Know What's Cool? A 3D-Printing Factory

  01-02-2023 21:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  A startup founded by SpaceX veterans aims to realize the potential of a technology whose big promises have never quite come through. From a report: 3D printers -- which create objects by layering materials according to a plan sent by a computer -- have gained a reputation for being unwieldy, expensive and slow. There has been more progress on industrial uses, although there, too, major players have fallen into a multiyear funk. Venture capitalists continue to dedicate significant resources to st
  
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• AMD is 'Undershipping' Chips To Keep CPU, GPU Prices Elevated

  01-02-2023 20:20 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: As the PC industry flounders, Intel suffered from such disastrous sales last quarter that it instituted pay cuts and other extreme measures going forward. AMD's client PC sales also dropped dramatically -- a whopping 51 percent year-over-year -- but the company managed to eke out a small profit despite the sky falling. So why aren't CPU and GPU prices falling too? In a call with investors Tuesday night, CEO Lisa Su confirmed that AMD has been "undershipping"
  
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• Google Begins Testing Its Own ChatGPT-Style AI

  01-02-2023 19:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is rushing to release its own artificial intelligence products in the wake of OpenAI's ChatGPT. From a report: The search engine pioneer is working hard and fast on a "code red" effort to respond to ChatGPT with a large language chatbot and testing new ways to incorporate that AI-powered bot into search, according to a report from CNBC. The new report backs up earlier news from the New York Times and elsewhere, which outlined a rapid re-alignment in Google's priorities in direct response
  
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• OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Plus, Starting at $20 Per Month

  01-02-2023 19:14 via slashdot.org
  
  Aiming to monetize what's become a viral phenomenon, OpenAI today launched a new pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT, its text-generating AI that can write convincingly human-like essays, poems, emails, lyrics and more. From a report: Called ChatGPT Plus and starting at $20 per month, ChatGPT Pro delivers a number of benefits over the base-level ChatGPT, OpenAI says, including general access to ChatGPT even during peak times, faster response times and priority access to new features and improvem
  
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• Biden Admin Report Criticizes Apple, Google App Stores

  01-02-2023 19:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  A new Biden administration report describes Apple and Google as "gatekeepers" of mobile app stores and suggests legislation is needed to spur competition and give app makers and consumers more choices. From a report: The White House is pushing for tech antitrust action in the new Congress, with a new Department of Commerce report laying out what it sees as a harmful app store environment for both consumers and app makers. The report, from the National Telecommunications and Information Administr
  
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• Microsoft Plans To Update Bing With a Faster Version of ChatGPT in the Coming Weeks

  01-02-2023 18:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is working to incorporate a faster version of OpenAI's ChatGPT, known as GPT-4, into Bing in the coming weeks in a move that would make the search engine more competitive with Google, according to a new report from Semafor. From a report: The integration would see Bing using GPT-4 to answer search queries. People familiar with the matter told Semafor that the main difference between ChatGPT and GPT-4 is speed. Although ChatGPT sometimes takes a up to a few minutes to form a response, G
  
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• Pakistan Degrades Wikipedia, Warns of Complete Block Over 'Sacrilegious' Content

  01-02-2023 17:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Pakistan has "degraded" Wikipedia in the country for 48 hours for not removing "sacrilegious contents" and warned of fully blocking the site if the online encyclopedia fails to comply with the directions. From a report: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the nation's telecom regulator, said Wednesday afternoon that it had approached Wikipedia to block or remove certain "blasphemous" contents by issuing court orders, but said the online encyclopedia neither complied nor appeared before the
  
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• VMware Releases Security Update for VMware vRealize Operations

  01-02-2023 17:36 via us-cert.cisa.gov
  Original release date: February 1, 2023
  VMware released a security update that addresses a cross-site request forgery bypass vulnerability affecting VMware vRealize Operations. A malicious user could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.CISA encourages users and administrators to review VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2023-0002 and apply the necessary updates. This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.
  
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• EA Cancels Mobile Apex Legends and Battlefield Games, Shutters Industrial Toys Studio

  01-02-2023 17:04 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Electronic Arts announced it is canceling its Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile games. And as a result, it is shutting down its Industrial Toys game studio. From a report: Apex Legends Mobile debuted last year, bringing Respawn Entertainment's hot Apex Legends shooter game to mobile devices. It won Apple's Game of the Year for 2022 as well as the same for Google Play. Now the game will shut down in 90 days. Battlefield Mobile was in soft launch, but it will also end. In a blog post, Res
  
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• Britain's Semiconductor Plan Goes AWOL as US and EU Splash Billions

  01-02-2023 16:21 via news.slashdot.org
  
  As nations around the world scramble to secure crucial semiconductor supply chains over fears about relations with China, the U.K. is falling behind. From a report: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the world's heavy reliance on Taiwan and China for the most advanced chips, which power everything from iPhones to advanced weapons. For the past two years, and amid mounting fears China could kick off a new global security crisis by invading Taiwan, Britain's government has been readying a plan to diver
  
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• Intel Slashing CEO and Managers' Pay in a Bid To Preserve Cash

  01-02-2023 15:42 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Intel, struggling with a rapid drop in revenue and earnings, is cutting management pay across the company to cope with a shaky economy and to preserve cash for an ambitious turnaround plan. From a report: Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger is taking a 25% cut to his base salary, the chipmaker said Tuesday. His executive leadership team will see their pay packages decrease by 15%. Senior managers will take a 10% reduction and mid-level managers a 5% cut. Intel shares climbed 0.1% in premarket
  
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• Wind and Solar Were EU's Top Electricity Source In 2022 For First Time Ever

  01-02-2023 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  AmiMoJo writes: Wind and solar supplied more of the EU's electricity than any other power source for the first time ever in 2022, new analysis finds. They together provided a record one-fifth of the EU's electricity in 2022 -- a larger share than gas or nuclear, according to a report by the climate thinktank Ember. Record additions of new wind and solar in 2022 helped Europe survive a 'triple crisis' created by restrictions on Russian gas supplies, a dip in hydro caused by drought and unexpected
  
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• US Stops Granting Export Licenses For China's Huawei

  01-02-2023 14:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for U.S. companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter. Huawei has faced U.S. export restrictions around items for 5G and other technologies for several years, but officials in the U.S. Department of Commerce have granted licenses for some American firms to sell certain goods and technologies to the company. Qualcomm in 2020 received per
  
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• Spotify Hits 205 Million Paid Subscribers

  01-02-2023 11:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Spotify packed on 10 million Premium customers in the last three months of 2022 to stand at 205 million, topping its previous guidance. Variety reports: The growth of its paid subs, up 14% year over year, was "aided by promotional intake and household plans," the company said. Overall, the streamer gained 33 million total monthly active users in the fourth quarter -- a record high -- to reach 489 million (free and paid), up 20% year over year. Amid signs of a flagging economy, Spotify posted 3.1
  
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• Intel Cuts Pay Across the Board To Avoid Layoffs

  01-02-2023 08:00 via slashdot.org
  
  segaboy81 writes: Internal reports of Intel cutting pay across the board are flooding the internet. It's now confirmed that CEO Pat Gelsinger will take a 25% cut, while everyone else takes a 5% to 15% hit. What's worse is it looks like they will remain cash-flow negative throughout 2023 despite all this. Intel's December earnings were revealed last week, showing significant declines in the company's sales, profit, gross margin, and outlook, both for the quarter and the full year.Read more of thi
  
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• 'De-Extinction' Company Will Try To Bring Back the Dodo

  01-02-2023 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences said Tuesday that it will try to resurrect the extinct dodo bird, and it's received $150 million in new funding to support its "de-extinction" activities. The dodo was already part of Colossal's plans by September 2022, but now the company has announced it with all the pomp, circumstance, and seed funding that suggests it will actually go after that goal. The $150 million, the company's second roun
  
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• Microsoft Upgrades Defender To Lock Down Linux Devices For Their Own Good

  01-02-2023 03:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Organizations using Microsoft's Defender for Endpoint will now be able to isolate Linux devices from their networks to stop miscreants from remotely connecting to them. The Register reports: The device isolation capability is in public preview and mirrors what the product already does for Windows systems. "Some attack scenarios may require you to isolate a device from the network," Microsoft wrote in a blog post. "This action can help prevent the attacker from controlling the compromised device
  
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• Sony Halves Reported Sales Expectations For Coming PSVR2 Headset

  01-02-2023 02:25 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Sony is drastically scaling back its sales expectations for next month's launch of the PlayStation VR2 headset, according to a Bloomberg report citing "people familiar with [Sony's] deliberations." Ars Technica reports: The PlayStation 5 maker now expects to sell just 1 million PSVR2 units by the end of March, down from sales expectations of 2 million units in that period, as reported last October. Sony expects to sell about 1.5 million more headsets in the following fiscal year, which ends in M
  
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• PayPal, HubSpot Announce Layoffs

  01-02-2023 01:45 via slashdot.org
  
  PayPal unveiled plans Tuesday to cut 2,000 employees, becoming the latest U.S. company to reduce its headcount, just hours after software company HubSpot announced it would lay off 500 positions in an effort to reduce costs as the company struggles from a "perfect storm" of inflation, tight customer budgets and "volatile foreign exchange." Forbes reports: In a statement on Tuesday, online payment company PayPal announced it would cut 7% of its global workforce (2,000 full-time positions) amid a
  
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• OpenAI Releases Tool To Detect Machine-Written Text

  01-02-2023 01:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: ChatGPT creator OpenAI today released a free web-based tool designed to help educators and others figure out if a particular chunk of text was written by a human or a machine. OpenAI cautions the tool is imperfect and performance varies based on how similar the text being analyzed is to the types of writing OpenAI's tool was trained on. "It has both false positives and false negatives," OpenAI head of alignment Jan Leike told Axios, cautioning the
  
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• Celsius Used New Customer Funds To Pay For Withdrawals

  01-02-2023 00:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Celsius Network misled its investors -- and on occasion used new customer funds to pay for other customers' withdrawals, the usual definition of a Ponzi scheme, an independent examiner (PDF) for the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York said in a Tuesday filing. CoinDesk reports: In September, Shoba Pillay was asked by the court to offer an outside view of goings-on at the crypto lender, has now published an account of the firm's operations in the runup to bankruptcy being declared in July. "In ever
  
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