ICT news

• Ask Slashdot: Where Can You Buy a Desktop PC That Makes Linux Easy to Install?

  18-02-2023 23:53 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  "It's time for me to build a new Linux PC," writes Slashdot reader eggegick, complaining that while Dell (and Amazon) sell systems with Linux pre-installed, it feels like they're tacking on an unnecessary extra expense.But then who sells a desktop PC where Linux is still easy to install? Windows seems to make it difficult to use your own (Linux OS) boot media:
  I guess this is a security measure, but I can think of better ways to implement this, for instance ask the user to type in "yes" or "fire
  
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• Higher Risks of Stroke and Heart Disease Linked to Added Sugars

  18-02-2023 22:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A new study on added sugars (also known as "free sugars") concluded they're bad for your health, reports NBC News.
  "The research, published in the journal BMC Medicine, found that diets higher in free sugars — a category that includes sugar added to processed foods and sodas, as well as that found in fruit juice and syrups — raise one's risk of heart disease and stroke."The study relied on data about the eating habits of more than 110,000 people ages 37 to 73 in the United Kingdom, w
  
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• Electric Vehicles Can Now Power Your Home for Three Days

  18-02-2023 21:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  There may soon come a time when your car "also serves as the hub of your personal power plant," writes the Washington Post's climate columnist. And then they tell the story of a New Mexico man named Nate Graham who connected a power strip and a $150 inverter to his Chevy Bolt EV during a power outage:The Bolt's battery powered his refrigerator, lights and other crucial devices with ease. As the rest of his neighborhood outside Albuquerque languished in darkness, Graham's family life continued vi
  
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• Two Objects Shot Down By US May Never Be Identified. Search Called Off.

  18-02-2023 20:38 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "The United States on Friday called off the search for two of the unidentified flying objects that the military shot out of the sky this month," reports the New York Times.
  NBC News adds that "The end of recovery efforts could mean the country may never know what, exactly, the objects were, how they were propelled, and where they came from."The conclusion applies to airborne objects shot down by U.S. fighter jets Feb. 10 near Deadhorse, Alaska, and Feb. 12 over Lake Huron, off the coast of Michi
  
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• FTC Launches New Office to Investigate Tech Companies, Seeks Tech Researchers

  18-02-2023 19:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  America's Federal Trade Commission "has long been dwarfed by Silicon Valley titans like Google and Apple, each staffed with thousands of engineers and technologists," notes the Washington Post.
  "But FTC leaders are hoping combining and expanding their forces into a dedicated tech unit will help them keep up with the rapid advancements across the industry — and to keep it in check."
  The creation of the office will increase the number of technologists on staff by roughly a dozen, up from the
  
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• Moderna Promises US Its COVID Vaccine Will Remain Free for All, Even the Uninsured

  18-02-2023 18:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Moderna will keep its COVID vaccine on the market at no cost to consumers," reports ABC News, "even after the federal government stops paying for it, the company announced Wednesday.""Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay," the company said in a statement.
  Last month, the vaccine maker was slammed for reportedly considering a dramatic price increase for the shot, which it had developed with the help of the federal governm
  
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• What's New in Firefox Version 110.0?

  18-02-2023 17:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Valentine's Day saw Mozilla releasing version 110.0 of its Firefox browser. OMG Ubuntu highlights some of its new features:Firefox already supports importing bookmarks, history, and passwords from Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Chromium, and Safari but once you have the Firefox 110 update you can also import data from Opera, Opera GX, and Vivaldi too — which is handy.
  Other changes in Firefox 110 include the ability to clear date, time, and datetime-local input fields using using ctrl + ba
  
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• Amazon Defends Decision to Require Employees in the Office 3 Days a Week

  18-02-2023 16:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  The Washington Post reports that Amazon has over 1 million workers worldwide — and they want most of them to be back in the office at least three days a week:
  In a note to employees, chief executive Andy Jassy said that the length of the pandemic had given senior managers time to observe what workplace models work best. They concluded that being in person most of the time had distinct benefits, allowing employees to more easily share ideas, collaborate, train new hires and connect. "Invent
  
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• 500-Year-Old Leonardo Da Vinci Sketches Show Him Grappling With Gravity

  18-02-2023 14:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: A team of engineers studying the 500-year-old, backward writings of Leonardo da Vinci have found evidence that the Italian polymath was working out gravity a century before its foundations were established by Galileo Galilei. The team's findings come from a revisit of the Codex Arundel, a compilation of documents written by da Vinci that detail various experiments and personal notes taken down in the latter 40 years of his life. The codex is free
  
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• Asphalt Additive Could Continuously Keep Roads Ice-Free

  18-02-2023 11:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Scientists from China's Hebei University of Science and Technology have developed an ice-melting additive for asphalt that could remain active for years. New Atlas reports: [The researchers started] out by developing a chloride-free acetate-based salt. Such salts are considerably less environmentally harmful than chlorides, they're less corrosive to steel and other materials, plus they work at lower temperatures. The researchers proceeded to mix the salt with a surfactant, silicon dioxide, sodiu
  
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• First UK Child To Receive Gene Therapy For Fatal Genetic Disorder Is Now Healthy

  18-02-2023 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A 19-month-old girl named Teddi recently became the first child in the U.K. outside a clinical trial to receive a new gene therapy for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a fatal genetic disorder, the National Health Service (NHS) announced. Roughly six months out from treatment, "Teddi is a happy and healthy toddler showing no signs of the devastating disease she was born with," the NHS statement reads. Live Science reports: The genetic disorder MLD disrupts cells' ability to break down sulfati
  
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• New Mechanism Proposed For Why Some Psychedelics Act As Antidepressants

  18-02-2023 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: New data suggests that psychedelics may activate serotonin signaling in a very different way than serotonin itself can, reaching the receptors in parts of the cell that serotonin can't get to. Serotonin signaling is complicated. There are seven classes of receptors in humans; some activate signaling pathways, while others inhibit them. One group of receptors allows ions into a cell in response to serotonin, triggering nerve impulses. The res
  
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• MIT Team Makes a Case For Direct Carbon Capture From Seawater, Not Air

  18-02-2023 03:02 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The oceans soak up enormous quantities of carbon dioxide, and MIT researchers say they've developed a way of releasing and capturing it that uses far less energy than direct air capture -- with some other environmental benefits to boot. New Atlas reports: According to IEA figures from 2022, even the more efficient air capture technologies require about 6.6 gigajoules of energy, or 1.83 megawatt-hours per ton of carbon dioxide captured. Most of that energy isn't used to directly separate the CO2
  
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• Lenovo Posts Worst Revenue Fall In 14 Years As PC Demand Slumps

  18-02-2023 02:25 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  China's Lenovo reported a 24% revenue decline for the third quarter, its largest revenue fall in 14 years as global demand for electronics slumped, and said it would look to cut spending and make workforce adjustments. Reuters reports: The world's largest maker of personal computers (PCs) said on Friday that total revenue during the October-December quarter was $15.3 billion, down 24% from the same quarter a year earlier. The results trailed an average Refinitiv estimate of $16.39 billion drawn
  
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• Google Gives Apple Cut of Chrome iOS Search Revenue

  18-02-2023 01:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  According to The Register, Google has been paying Apple a portion of search revenue generated by people using Google Chrome on iOS. From the report: This is one of the aspects of the relationship between the two tech goliaths that currently concerns the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Though everyone knows Google pays Apple, Samsung, and other manufacturers billions of dollars to make its web search engine the default on devices, it has not been reported until now that the CMA has
  
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• Atlassian and Envoy Briefly Blame Each Other For Data Breach

  18-02-2023 01:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Australian software giant Atlassian and Envoy, a startup that provides workplace management services, were at loggerheads on Thursday over a data breach that exposed the data of thousands of Atlassian employees. As first reported by Cyberscoop, a hacking group known as SiegedSec leaked data on Telegram this week that it claimed to have stolen from Atlassian. This data includes the names, email addresses, work departments and phone numbers of a
  
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• Tile Ads Undetectable Anti-Theft Mode To Tracking Devices, With $1 Million Fine If Used For Stalking

  18-02-2023 00:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  AirTag competitor Tile today announced a new Anti-Theft Mode for Tile tracking devices, which is designed to make Tile accessories undetectable by the anti-stalking Scan and Secure feature. MacRumors reports: Scan and Secure is a security measure that Tile implemented in order to allow iPhone and Android users to scan for and detect nearby Tile devices to keep them from being used for stalking purposes. Unfortunately, Scan and Secure undermines the anti-theft capabilities of the Tile because a s
  
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• Microsoft Proposes AI Ads In Bing

  18-02-2023 00:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has started discussing with ad agencies how it plans to make money from its revamped Bing search engine powered by generative artificial intelligence as the tech company seeks to battle Google's dominance. Reuters reports: In a meeting with a major ad agency this week, Microsoft showed off a demo of the new Bing and said it plans to allow paid links within responses to search results, said an ad executive, who spoke about the private meeting on the condition of anonymity. [...] Microso
  
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