ICT news

• Top Chinese Scientists Sketch Out Plans To Thwart US Chip Curbs

  20-02-2023 23:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Key members of China's most influential scientific body have outlined the country's plan to circumvent US chip sanctions for the first time, codifying Beijing's view of how it could win a crucial technological conflict with Washington. From a report: Two of the country's senior academics wrote that Beijing should amass a portfolio of patents that govern the next generation of chipmaking, from novel materials to new techniques. That should propel its semiconductor ambitions while giving China the
  
  Read more

• Google Chrome's Latest Version Includes Tools To Address Its Memory Hog Problem

  20-02-2023 22:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has released optimization features designed to improve battery life and memory usage on machines running the latest version of its Chrome desktop web browser. From a report: Chrome's new Energy Saver and Memory Saver modes were first announced in December last year alongside the release of Chrome 108, and now as noted by Android Police, the two optimization utilities are starting to roll out globally onto Chrome 110 desktops for Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks.
  Memory Saver mode essentially
  
  Read more

• FDA's Own Reputation Could Be Restraining Its Misinfo Fight

  20-02-2023 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The government agency responsible for tracking down contaminated peanut butter and defective pacemakers is taking on a new health hazard: online misinformation. From a report: It's an unlikely role for the Food and Drug Administration, a sprawling, century-old bureaucracy that for decades directed most its communications toward doctors and corporations. But FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf has spent the last year warning that growing "distortions and half-truths" surrounding vaccines and other
  
  Read more

• Filmmakers Request Identities of Reddit Users To Aid Piracy Lawsuit

  20-02-2023 20:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader writes: Filmmakers have obtained a subpoena to reveal the identities of Redditors who commented on piracy-related topics. The comments can provide relevant evidence in support of a repeat infringer lawsuit against ISP RCN, the companies argue. Reddit disagrees and frames the effort as a fishing expedition that is at odds with the right to anonymous speech.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Microsoft's Outlook Spam Email Filters Are Broken for Many Right Now

  20-02-2023 18:10 via it.slashdot.org
  
  New submitter calicuse writes: Microsoft's Outlook spam filters appear to be broken for many users today. I woke up to more than 20 junk messages in my Focused Inbox in Outlook this morning, and spam emails have kept breaking through on an hourly basis today. Many Outlook users in Europe have also spotted the same thing, with some heading to Twitter to complain about waking up to an inbox full of spam messages. Most of the messages that are making it into Outlook users' inboxes are very clearly
  
  Read more

• Windows 11 Slapping a Watermark on 'Unsupported' PCs

  20-02-2023 18:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Did you force your PC to install Windows 11 despite it not meeting the official requirements? Microsoft might start nagging you for doing that -- or at least reminding you that what you've done is against the intended use of its operating system. The January 2023 Windows 11 update is pestering folks who forced the update on their PCs with a persistent watermark on the desktop warning that system requirements haven't been met. The story is circulating among Wi
  
  Read more

• Man Beats Machine at Go in Human Victory over AI

  20-02-2023 17:00 via slashdot.org
  
  A human player has comprehensively defeated a top-ranked AI system at the board game Go, in a surprise reversal of the 2016 computer victory that was seen as a milestone in the rise of artificial intelligence. From a report: Kellin Pelrine, an American player who is one level below the top amateur ranking, beat the machine by taking advantage of a previously unknown flaw that had been identified by another computer. But the head-to-head confrontation in which he won 14 of 15 games was undertaken
  
  Read more

• Hedge Fund Galois Closes After Half of Assets Trapped on Crypto Exchange FTX

  20-02-2023 16:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A hedge fund that was one of the highest-profile victims of the FTX scandal when half its assets were trapped on the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange has decided to close and return its remaining money to investors. From a report: Galois Capital, which last year had been managing about $200mn in assets and was one of the biggest crypto-focused quantitative funds, told investors that it had halted all trading and unwound all its positions as it was no longer viable, according to documents seen b
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• OpenAI Is Faulted by Media for Using Articles To Train ChatGPT

  20-02-2023 15:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Major news outlets have begun criticizing OpenAI and its ChatGPT software, saying the lab is using their articles to train its artificial intelligence tool without paying them. From a report: "Anyone who wants to use the work of Wall Street Journal journalists to train artificial intelligence should be properly licensing the rights to do so from Dow Jones," Jason Conti, general counsel for News Corp's Dow Jones unit, said in a statement provided to Bloomberg News. "Dow Jones does not have such a
  
  Read more

• Purism Combines Phone Docking Station and Laptop Shell For Lapdock Kit

  20-02-2023 13:34 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Their video says it all. Its official page brags it can "Transform your Librem 5 into a laptop."
  But it all apparently started because Purism is proud that their Librem 5 line of phones run "the same desktop applications as our full-sized computers, just on a smaller screens," according to the announcement by Purism president Kyle Rankin:When only using the Librem 5 in its mobile form factor, it's easy to overlook that this is happening, as adaptive applications morph to fit the smaller screen..
  
  Read more

• Could Safer, Cheaper Modular Nuclear Plants Reshape Coal Country?

  20-02-2023 09:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "No massive cooling towers, miles of concrete, expansive evacuation zones," writes the Washington Post, describing modular nuclear reactors instead as "space-age plants that can be small enough to fit in a large backyard," using "downsized" reactors like the ones on nuclear-powered submarines.
  And America's coal country "is a ripe target for this experiment, with infrastructure that can be repurposed, capable workforces and communities eager to reclaim prominence in the energy economy."
  More tha
  
  Read more

• Meta Announces Paid Subscriptions Offering Extra Verification, Promotion, Protection, Support

  20-02-2023 05:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: Meta announced a new $11.99-a-month subscription service on Sunday (or $14.99-a-month for Android and iOS). For your money you mainly get the privilege of authenticating your own account with a government ID, so that it can then display the official "verified" badge. (Accounts must have a prior posting history, with account holders verified to be at least 18 years old.)
  Meta promises they won't change already-verified Facebook and Instagram accounts
  
  Read more

• Meta Announces Paid Subscriptions Offering Extra Verification, Promotion, Protec

  20-02-2023 05:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: Meta announced a new $11.99-a-month subscription service on Sunday (or $14.99-a-month for Android and iOS). For your money you mainly get the privilege of authenticating your own account with a government ID, so that it can then display the official "verified" badge. (Accounts must have a prior posting history, with account holders verified to be at least 18 years old.)
  Meta promises they won't change already-verified Facebook and Instagram accounts
  
  Read more

• 11 US States are Now Considering 'Right to Repair' Laws for Farming Equipment

  20-02-2023 03:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Colorado farmer Danny Wood had a problem with his Steiger 370 tractor, reports the Associated Press:
  The tractor's manufacturer doesn't allow Wood to make certain fixes himself, and last spring his fertilizing operations were stalled for three days before the servicer arrived to add a few lines of missing computer code for $950. "That's where they have us over the barrel, it's more like we are renting it than buying it," said Wood, who spent $300,000 on the used tractor.
  Wood's plight, echoed by
  
  Read more

• The Washington Post Says There's 'No Real Reason' to Use a VPN

  20-02-2023 00:35 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Some people try to hide parts of their email address from online scrapers by spelling out "at" and "dot," notes a Washington Post technology newsletter. But unfortunately, "This spam-fighting trick doesn't work. At all." They warn that it's not just a "piece of anti-spam fiction," but "an example of the digital self-protection myths that drain your time and energy and make you less safe.
  "Today, let's kill off four privacy and security bogus beliefs, including that you need a VPN to stay safe on
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!