ICT news

• Replika, a 'Virtual Friendship' AI Chatbot, Hit With Data Ban in Italy Over Child Safety

  03-02-2023 23:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: San Francisco-based AI chatbot maker, Replika -- which operates a freemium 'virtual friendship' service based on customizable digital avatars whose "personalized" responses are powered by artificial intelligence (and designed, per its pitch, to make human users feel better) -- has been ordered by Italy's privacy watchdog to stop processing local users' data. The Garante said it's concerned Replika's chatbot technology poses risks to minors -- and also that th
  
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• Wikipedia Blocked in Pakistan Over 'Sacrilegious' Content

  03-02-2023 23:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Pakistan has blocked Wikipedia services in the South Asian nation after the platform failed to remove "sacrilegious" content. From a report: The action was taken because some of the content is still available on Wikipedia after the expiry of a 48-hour deadline, Malahat Obaid, spokesperson for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said by phone.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• The Newest Feature in the Microsoft Store is More Ads

  03-02-2023 22:21 via slashdot.org
  
  If your main problem with the Microsoft Store is that you get too many relevant results when you search for apps, good news: Microsoft is officially launching Microsoft Store Ads, a way for developers to pay to get their apps in front of your eyes when you go to the store to look for something else. From a report: Microsoft's landing page for the feature says the apps will appear during searches and in the Apps and Gaming tabs within the app. Developers will be able to track whether and where us
  
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• Former Ubiquiti Employee Pleads Guilty To Attempted Extortion Scheme

  03-02-2023 21:41 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A former employee of network technology provider Ubiquiti pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges after posing as an anonymous hacker in an attempt to extort almost $2 million worth of cryptocurrency while employed at the company. From a report: Nickolas Sharp, 37, worked as a senior developer for Ubiquiti between 2018 and 2021 and took advantage of his authorized access to Ubiquiti's network to steal gigabytes worth of files from the company during an orchestrated security breach in December
  
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• Vaccine Makers Kept $1.4 Billion in Prepayments for Canceled Covid Shots for the World's Poor

  03-02-2023 21:01 via science.slashdot.org
  
  As global demand for Covid-19 vaccines dries up, the program responsible for vaccinating the world's poor has been urgently negotiating to try to get out of its deals with pharmaceutical companies for shots it no longer needs. From a report: Drug companies have so far declined to refund $1.4 billion in advance payments for now-canceled doses, according to confidential documents obtained by The New York Times. Gavi, the international immunization organization that bought the shots on behalf of th
  
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• Air Pollution Causes Chess Players To Make More Mistakes, Study Finds

  03-02-2023 20:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Chess experts make more mistakes when air pollution is high, a study has found. From a report: Experts used computer models to analyse the quality of games played and found that with a modest increase in fine particulate matter, the probability that chess players would make an error increased by 2.1 percentage points, and the magnitude of those errors increased by 10.8%. The paper, published in the journal Management Science, studied the performance of 121 chess players in three seven-round tour
  
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• Google To Unveil Its ChatGPT Rival Next Week

  03-02-2023 19:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Next week Google is hosting what can only be described as an "emergency" event. From a report: According to an invite sent to The Verge, the event will revolve around "using the power of AI to reimagine how people search for, explore and interact with information, making it more natural and intuitive than ever before to find what you need" -- in other words, Google's going to fire up its photocopier and stick OpenAI's ChatGPT onto the platen. The 40 minute event will, of course, be live on YouTu
  
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• Netflix Says Strict New Password Sharing Rules Were Posted in Error

  03-02-2023 19:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  New Netflix rules that would have enforced a limitation on users' sharing passwords are reportedly a mistake and don't apply in the US -- for now. From a report: Netflix has long been planning to cut down on password sharing, or letting friends share one paid account. The company appeared to go further, however, with the inclusion in its help pages of a new set of rules.
  Broadly, anyone at a subscriber's physical address could continue using the service. But the paying subscriber would have to c
  
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• Kremlin's Tracking of Russian Dissidents Through Telegram Suggests App's Encryption Has Been Compromised

  03-02-2023 18:24 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Russian antiwar activists placed their faith in Telegram, a supposedly secure messaging app. How does Putin's regime seem to know their every move? From a report: Matsapulina's case [anecdote in the story] is hardly an isolated one, though it is especially unsettling. Over the past year, numerous dissidents across Russia have found their Telegram accounts seemingly monitored or compromised. Hundreds have had their Telegram activity wielded against them in criminal cases. Perhaps most disturbingl
  
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• FTC Prepares Antitrust Suit Against Amazon

  03-02-2023 17:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Federal Trade Commission is preparing a potential antitrust lawsuit against Amazon that in the coming months could challenge an array of the tech giant's business practices as anticompetitive, WSJ reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The timing of any case remains in flux, some of the people said. The commission also could opt not to proceed, and doesn't always bring cases even when it is making preparations to do so. Amazon officials haven't had individu
  
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• Google Invests $300 Million in AI Startup Anthropic

  03-02-2023 17:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has invested about $300mn in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, making it the latest tech giant to throw its money and computing power behind a new generation of companies trying to claim a place in the booming field of "generative AI." From the report: The terms of the deal, through which Google will take a stake of around 10 per cent, requires Anthropic to use the money to buy computing resources from the search company's cloud computing division, according to three people famil
  
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• ISP Admits Lying To FCC About Size of Network To Block Funding To Rivals

  03-02-2023 16:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Ryan Grewell, who runs a small wireless Internet service provider in Ohio, last month received an email that confirmed some of his worst suspicions about cable companies. From a report: Grewell, founder and general manager of Smart Way Communications, had heard from some of his customers that the Federal Communications Commission's new broadband map falsely claimed fiber Internet service was available at their homes from another company called Jefferson County Cable. Those customer reports spurr
  
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• Billionaire Draper Pitches Sri Lanka on Bitcoin, Gets Rejected

  03-02-2023 15:40 via slashdot.org
  
  A billionaire cryptocurrency evangelist may have gotten a tougher reception than he expected when proposing widespread adoption of Bitcoin to a bankrupt country. From a report: Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper was in Sri Lanka to shoot an episode of his "Meet the Drapers" TV show with local entrepreneurs, and met President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday to proselytize the adoption of cryptocurrency. He journeyed to the central bank the next day with the same pitch -- but embattled Governor Na
  
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• BMW Owner Discovers Car's Software Update Won't Install When Parked on Incline

  03-02-2023 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: BMW i4 owner was rightfully puzzled when their car flashed a strange alert on the screen, saying its parking spot was "too steep" to perform an over-the-air software upgrade. How does that happen? And why is it a problem in the first place? As Clare Eliza found out, it simply isn't possible to remotely update any of the i4's software if the car isn't parked on flat ground. And instead of allowing the operator to override this, it will wait until you physicall
  
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• Red Hat Gives an ARM Up To OpenShift Kubernetes Operations

  03-02-2023 14:00 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Red Hat is perhaps best known as a Linux operating system vendor, but it is the company's OpenShift platform that represents its fastest growing segment. Today, Red Hat announced the general availability of OpenShift 4.12, bringing a series of new capabilities to the company's hybrid cloud application delivery platform. OpenShift is based on the open source Kubernetes container orchestration system, originally developed by Google, that has be
  
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• Planting More Trees In Cities Could Cut Deaths From Summer Heat, Says Study

  03-02-2023 09:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Planting more trees could mean fewer people die from increasingly high summer temperatures in cities, a study suggests. The Guardian reports: Increasing the level of tree cover from the European average of 14.9% to 30% can lower the temperature in cities by 0.4C, which could reduce heat-related deaths by 39.5%, according to first-of-its-kind modeling of 93 European cities by an international team of researchers. [...] The researchers used mortality data to estimate the potential reduction in dea
  
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• Scientists Grew Mini Human Guts Inside Mice

  03-02-2023 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Your gut has an obvious job: It processes the food you eat. But it has another important function: It protects you from the bacteria, viruses, or allergens you ingest along with that food. "The largest part of the immune system in humans is the GI tract, and our biggest exposure to the world is what we put in our mouth," says Michael Helmrath, a pediatric surgeon at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who treats patients with intestinal d
  
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• Pentagon Elects Not To Shoot Down Chinese Spy Balloon Traveling Over Montana

  03-02-2023 03:35 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "A Chinese spy balloon is floating over the continental United States," writes Slashdot reader q4Fry. "As it headed over Montana, 'civilian flights in the area were halted and U.S. military aircraft, including advanced F-22 fighter jets, were put in the air.'" The Washington Post reports: The balloon's flight path takes it over "a number of sensitive sites," the senior [Pentagon] official said, but it appears it does not have the ability collect information that is "over and above" other tools a
  
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• Apple Hits Milestone of 2 Billion Active Devices As Services Set New Revenue Record

  03-02-2023 02:25 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  In its quarterly earnings report today, Apple said the company passed the 2 billion device milestone while Services have hit a new revenue record. 9to5Mac reports: Apple saw a dip for its Q1 2023 fiscal quarter with just over $117 billion in revenue. That's down 5% YoY -- with the compare being its all-time record for fiscal Q1 in 2022 which saw $123.95 billion in revenue. However, the company pointed out two bright spots with 2 billion of its devices now in use and a fresh revenue record for it
  
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• Decentralized Social Media Project Nostr's Damus Gets Listed On Apple App Store

  03-02-2023 01:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Nostr, a startup decentralized social network, got its Twitter-like Damus application listed on Apple's App Store. CoinDesk reports: Nostr is an open protocol that aims to create a censorship-resistant global social network. Media commentators have described it as a possible alternative to Elon Musk's Twitter. According to an article in Protos, Nostr is popular with bitcoiners partly because most implementations of it support payments over Bitcoin's Lightning Network.Former Twitter CEO Jack Dors
  
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• Documents Show Meta Paid For Data Scraping Despite Years of Denouncing It

  03-02-2023 01:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Meta has routinely fought data scrapers, but it also participated in that practice itself -- if not necessarily for the same reasons. Bloomberg has obtained legal documents from a Meta lawsuit against a former contractor, Bright Data, indicating that the Facebook owner paid its partner to scrape other websites. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed the relationship in a discussion with Bloomberg, but said his company used Bright Data to build b
  
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• 86% of Stablecoin Issuer Tether Was Controlled By 4 People As of 2018: WSJ

  03-02-2023 00:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Four men owned 86% of Tether as of 2018, according to investigatory documents viewed by the Wall Street Journal. CoinDesk reports: The documents from 2021 probes of Tether by the New York Attorney General and the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission reveal the previously unknown ownership structure of the secretive issuer of the world's largest stablecoin. Tether's USDT stablecoin is a key piece of infrastructure in the crypto world, easing the movement of money in the industry. Yet, the
  
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• Amazon Reports Its First Unprofitable Year Since 2014

  03-02-2023 00:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon is reporting its first unprofitable year since 2014. NPR reports: Amazon lost $2.7 billion last year, the company said on Thursday. This was despite holiday-season sales growing 9%. Amazon's shares fell in after hours trading. By far, the biggest culprit for Amazon's losses over the year was the company's hefty investment in the electric automaker Rivian whose value plummeted last year and ate into Amazon's bottom line.Amazon had taken a 20% stake in Rivian and has begun rolling out the c
  
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