ICT news

• Back At Google Again, Cofounder Sergey Brin Just Filed His First Code Request In Years

  02-02-2023 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  After years of day-to-day absence, Google cofounder Sergey Brin filed a request for access to code related to the company's natural language chatbot, LaMDA. Forbes reports: Two sources said the request was related to LaMDA, Google's natural language chatbot -- a project initially announced in 2021, but which has recently garnered increased attention as Google tries to fend off rival OpenAI, which released the popular ChatGPT bot in November. Brin filed a "CL," short for "changelist," to gain acc
  
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• Anker Finally Comes Clean About Its Eufy Security Cameras

  02-02-2023 23:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: First, Anker told us it was impossible. Then, it covered its tracks. It repeatedly deflected while utterly ignoring our emails. So shortly before Christmas, we gave the company an ultimatum: if Anker wouldn't answer why its supposedly always-encrypted Eufy cameras were producing unencrypted streams -- among other questions -- we would publish a story about the company's lack of answers. It worked.In a series of emails to The Verge, Anker has fi
  
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• Shell's Actual Spending on Renewables is Fraction of What It Claims, Group Alleges

  02-02-2023 22:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Shell has misleadingly overstated how much it is spending on renewable energy and should be investigated and potentially fined by the US financial regulator, according to a non-profit group which has lodged a complaint against the oil giant. From a report: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been urged to act over Shell's most recent annual report in which it stated 12% of its capital expenditure was funneled into a division called Renewables and Energy Solutions in 2021. The div
  
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• Razer Debuts Its Lightest Gaming Mouse Ever

  02-02-2023 21:41 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Razer announced its lightest gaming mouse today, the Viper Mini Signature Edition. From a report: It only weighs 49g, making it 16 percent lighter than the company's Viper V2 Pro and one of the most lightweight mice we've seen from a large company. The mouse uses a magnesium alloy exoskeleton with a semi-hollow interior (bearing a slight resemblance to the SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless). "We wanted to push beyond the traditional honeycomb design, and this required a material with an outstanding s
  
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• A Proud Ship Turned Into a Giant Recycling Problem. So Brazil Plans To Sink It.

  02-02-2023 21:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A decommissioned aircraft carrier, packed with an undetermined amount of asbestos, is being towed in circles off the coast of Brazil after it was refused permission to dock in Turkey for recycling. The problem? No government wants anything to do with it. From a report: Now, the Brazilian Navy says it plans to just sink the ship, the Sao Paulo, a Clemenceau-class carrier purchased from France in 2000 for $12 million, planes and helicopters not included. Environmentalists say doing so would cause
  
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• EU Lawmakers Launch Tips Hotline To Catch Big Tech's 'Shady' Lobbying

  02-02-2023 20:22 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: 'Astroturfing' and other non-transparent lobbying tactics used to target digital policymakers in the European Union in recent years -- including during a blitz of spending aimed at influencing major new pan-EU rules like the Digital Services Act (DSA) -- have inspired a group of MEPs and NGOs to fight back by launching a hotline for reporting attempts at indirectly influencing the bloc's tech policy agenda. The new tips line, which was first reported by the G
  
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• 'Less Clumpy' Universe May Suggest Existence of Mysterious Forces

  02-02-2023 19:45 via science.slashdot.org
  
  One of the most precise surveys of the structure of the universe has suggested it is "less clumpy" than expected, in findings that could indicate the existence of mysterious forces at work. From a report: The observations by the Dark Energy Survey and the South Pole Telescope chart the distribution of matter with the aim of understanding the competing forces that shaped the evolution of the universe and govern its ultimate fate. The extraordinarily detailed analysis adds to a body of evidence th
  
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• America Failing To Prepare Gen Z To Enter the Workforce Due To 'Glaring' Gap in Tech Skills

  02-02-2023 19:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Computer classes for Gen Z aren't cutting it anymore. From a report: More than a third (37%) of Gen Zers feel their school education didn't prepare them with the digital skills they need to propel their career, according to Dell Technologies' international survey of more than 15,000 adults ages 18 to 26 across 15 countries. A majority (56%) of this generation added that they had very basic to no digital skills education. It's all led to some warranted skepticism regarding the future of work: Man
  
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• Antartica's Only EV Had To Be Redesigned Because of Climate Change

  02-02-2023 18:22 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Most electric vehicles get upgrades to boost performance or range, but Antarctica's one and only EV has received a tune-up due to the realities of climate change. From a report: Venturi has revealed that it upgraded its Venturi Antarctica electric explorer early last year due to warmer conditions on the continent. The original machine was designed to operate in winter temperatures of -58F, but the southern polar region is now comparatively balmy at 14F -- and that affected both crews and perform
  
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• Google Expands Open Source Bounties, Will Soon Support Javascript Fuzzing Too

  02-02-2023 17:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Google has expanded OSS-Fuzz Reward Program to offer rewards of up to $30,000 for researchers who find security flaws in open source programs. From a report: The expanded scope of the program now means the total rewards possible per project integration rise from $20,000 to $30,000. The purpose of OSS-Fuzz is to support open source projects adopt fuzz testing and the new categories of rewards support those who create more ways of integrating new projects.
  Google created two new reward categories
  
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• Microsoft Will Use OpenAI Tech To Write Emails For Busy Salespeople

  02-02-2023 17:06 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is adding artificial intelligence capabilities from ChatGPT maker OpenAI to another of its products -- this time a customer-relationship app that's meant to help win revenue from Salesforce. From a report: Viva Sales, which connects Microsoft's Office and video conferencing programs with customer relations management software, will be able to generate email replies to clients using OpenAI's product for creating text. The AI tools, which include OpenAI's GPT 3.5 -- the system that is th
  
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• Senator Urges Apple, Google To Remove TikTok From App Stores

  02-02-2023 16:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) wrote to Google and Apple on Thursday, urging both companies to remove TikTok from their app stores. From a report: In a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Bennet urges both leaders to boot TikTok immediately, calling the popular video-sharing app "an unacceptable threat to the national security of the United States." Bennet's letter marks the first time a member of Congress has suggested TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance,
  
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• ChromeOS and Microsoft 365 Will Start Playing Nicer With Each Other This Year

  02-02-2023 15:46 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Google and Microsoft don't always take pains to make sure their products work great together -- Google originally declared Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge browser "not supported" by the Google Drive web apps; Microsoft is always trying to make you use Bing -- but it looks like Google's ChromeOS will start working a bit better with the Microsoft 365 service later this year. Google says ChromeOS will add a "new integration" for Microsoft 365, making it easier t
  
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• Dangerous Fungi Are Spreading Across US as Temperatures Rise

  02-02-2023 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Dangerous fungal infections are on the rise, and a growing body of research suggests warmer temperatures might be a culprit. From a report: The human body's average temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit has long been too hot for most fungi to thrive, infectious-disease specialists say. But as temperatures have risen globally, some fungi might be adapting to endure more heat stress, including conditions within the human body, research suggests. Climate change might also be creating conditions fo
  
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• Drupal Releases Security Update to Address a Vulnerability in Apigee Edge

  02-02-2023 14:57 via us-cert.cisa.gov
  Original release date: February 2, 2023
  Drupal released a security update to address a vulnerability affecting the Apigee Edge module for Drupal 9.x. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to bypass access authorization or disclose sensitive information.CISA encourages users and administrators to review Drupal’s security advisory SA-CONTRIB- 2023-005 and apply the necessary update. This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.
  
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• Netflix Made an Anime Using AI Due To a 'Labor Shortage,' and Fans Are Pissed

  02-02-2023 14:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Netflix created an anime that uses AI-generated artwork to paint its backgrounds -- and people on social media are pissed. In a tweet, Netflix Japan claimed that the project, a short called he Dog & The Boy uses AI generated art in response to labor shortages in the anime industry. "As an experimental effort to help the anime industry, which has a labor shortage, we used image generation technology for the background images of all three-m
  
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• ChatGPT Sets Record For Fastest-Growing User Base

  02-02-2023 11:00 via slashdot.org
  
  ChatGPT, the popular chatbot from OpenAI, is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a UBS study on Wednesday. Reuters reports: The report, citing data from analytics firm Similar Web, said about 13 million unique visitors used ChatGPT per day in January, more than double the levels in December. "In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a fast
  
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• Physicists Observe Rare Resonance In Molecules For the First Time

  02-02-2023 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Physicists at MIT have for the very first time observed a resonance between two colliding ultracold molecules. The findings have been published in the journal Nature. From the report: They found that a cloud of super-cooled sodium-lithium (NaLi) molecules disappeared 100 times faster than normal when exposed to a very specific magnetic field. The molecules' rapid disappearance is a sign that the magnetic field tuned the particles into a resonance, driving them to react more quickly than they nor
  
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• Study Reveals Links Between UK Air Pollution and Mental Ill-Health

  02-02-2023 04:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Long-term exposure to even comparatively low levels of air pollution could cause depression and anxiety, according to a study exploring the links between air quality and mental ill-health. Tracking the incidence of depression and anxiety in almost 500,000 UK adults over 11 years, researchers found that those living in areas with higher pollution were more likely to suffer episodes, even when air quality was within official limits. Writing in
  
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• How a Tiny Radioactive Capsule Was Found In Western Australia

  02-02-2023 03:02 via slashdot.org
  
  A radioactive capsule that was reported lost in Western Australia on January 25 has been found. The BBC reports: On 25 January, when mining company Rio Tinto reported that one of their Caesium-137 radioactive capsules had gone missing, Western Australian authorities faced a seemingly impossible task. They had to locate a pea-sized capsule anywhere along a 1,400km (870 mile) route stretching from the Gudai-Darri mine in the north of the state to a depot just north of Perth's city centre. Authorit
  
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• Snap Hints At Future AR Glasses Powered By Generative AI

  02-02-2023 02:25 via slashdot.org
  
  On Tuesday's fourth-quarter earnings call, Snapchat maker Snap revealed that its future AR glasses will be powered by generative AI technology. TechCrunch reports: Social media company and Snapchat maker Snap has for years defined itself as a "camera company," despite its failures to turn its photo-and-video recording glasses known as Spectacles into a mass-market product and, more recently, its decision to kill off its camera-equipped drone. [...] Snap CEO Evan Spiegel agreed that, in the near
  
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• The Galaxy Book3 Ultra Is Samsung's Shot At the MacBook Pro

  02-02-2023 01:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  At the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event today, Samsung announced the Galaxy Book3 Ultra, a 16-inch workstation laptop with a 120Hz OLED screen, an H-Series Core i7 or Core i9, and an RTX 4050 or 4070 GPU. "Samsung makes a number of Galaxy Book models, but this is the first one of the past few years that has really targeted the deep-pocketed professional user -- that is, the core audience for Apple's high-powered and wildly expensive MacBook Pro 16," reports The Verge. "It'll start at $2,399.99
  
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• GoodRx Leaked User Health Data To Facebook and Google, FTC Says

  02-02-2023 01:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Millions of Americans have used GoodRx, a drug discount app, to search for lower prices on prescriptions like antidepressants, H.I.V. medications and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases at their local drugstores. But U.S. regulators say the app's coupons and convenience came at a high cost for users: wrongful disclosure of their intimate health information. On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission accused the app's developer
  
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• Samsung, Google and Qualcomm Team Up To Build a New Mixed-Reality Platform

  02-02-2023 00:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  During Samsung's Unpacked event on Wednesday where it unveiled its new Galaxy S23 smartphones, the company said it'll work with Google and Qualcomm on an upcoming mixed-reality platform. Samsung didn't mention any specific products or timeline. CNET reports: "It's more of a declarative announcement about how we are going to get it right in trying to build the XR ecosystem," TM Roh, president of Samsung's mobile division, said in an interview with CNET through a translator ahead of the event. "Go
  
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