ICT news

• Apple's $165 Billion Cash Hoard Creates Mergers and Acquisitions Mirages

  06-04-2023 23:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple's slowing growth and cash-rich balance sheet are again fueling speculation that the world's most valuable company should make a big acquisition. From a report: Entertainment giant Disney recently joined a long list of potential acquisition targets that over the years has grown to include Netflix, Tesla, Peloton and Sonos. They all have one thing in common: Anyone betting that Apple would buy them has so far been sorely disappointed. "You're probably missing the value of the business if you
  
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• Linux 6.4 Bringing Apple M2 Additions For 2022 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini

  06-04-2023 22:43 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Further adding to the excitement of the upcoming Linux 6.4 merge window is the mainline kernel seeing the Device Tree (DT) additions for Apple's current M2 devices including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini systems. From a report: The upstream kernel still has more work to go around the M1/M2 support compared to the downstream state with Asahi Linux, but at least now with this DT support will provide some basic level of upstream kernel support for the Apple M2. Asahi Linux lead develop
  
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• Microsoft Adds Bing AI Chat To Its SwiftKey Keyboard for Android

  06-04-2023 22:02 via slashdot.org
  
  Android users who want to tap into some AI as they type on their phones can now do so with help from Microsoft. Released this week, the latest flavor of the Microsoft SwiftKey Beta keyboard integrates the Bing AI bot to bring some smarts to your typing. From a report: Confirming the beta release in a tweet posted on Wednesday, Pedram Rezaei, Microsoft Chief Technology Officer for the Mobile and Commerce Division, asked: "Did we just add major AI functionality to @SwiftKey?" and then followed up
  
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• Microsoft's Rolling Out Edge's AI Image Generator To Everyone

  06-04-2023 21:24 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is making its DALL-E-powered AI image generator "available on desktop for Edge users around the world." From a report: The company announced it'd be coming last month when it integrated the image generation tech into its Bing chatbot, but this move could make it available to a much wider audience. When it rolls out, the "Image Creator" will live in Edge's sidebar. Using it should be pretty simple; you type in what you want to see, and Bing will generate several images that match the pr
  
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• China Plans To Ban Exports of Rare Earth Magnet Tech

  06-04-2023 20:40 via slashdot.org
  
  China is considering banning the export of technologies used to produce high-performance rare earth magnets deployed in electric vehicles, wind turbine motors and other products, citing "national security" as a reason, it has been learned. From a report: With the global trend toward decarbonization driving a shift toward the use of electric motors, China is believed to be seeking to seize control of the magnet supply chain and establish dominance in the burgeoning environment sector.
  Beijing is
  
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• New AI Model Can 'Cut Out' Any Object Within an Image

  06-04-2023 20:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta has announced an AI model called the Segment Anything Model (SAM) that can identify individual objects in images and videos, even those not encountered during training. From a report: According to a blog post from Meta, SAM is an image segmentation model that can respond to text prompts or user clicks to isolate specific objects within an image. Image segmentation is a process in computer vision that involves dividing an image into multiple segments or regions, each representing a specific
  
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• Chrome 113 To Ship WebGPU By Default

  06-04-2023 19:22 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  While Chrome 112 just shipped this week and Chrome 113 only in beta, there is already a big reason to look forward to that next Chrome web browser release: Google is finally ready to ship WebGPU support. From a report: WebGPU provides the next-generation high performance 3D graphics API for the web. With next month's Chrome 113 stable release, the plan is to have WebGPU available out-of-the-box for this new web graphics API. Though in that version Google is limiting it to ChromeOS, macOS, and Wi
  
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• India To Require Social Media Firms Rely on Government's Own Fact Checking

  06-04-2023 18:42 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  India amended its IT law on Thursday to prohibit Facebook, Twitter and other social media firms from publishing, hosting or sharing false or misleading information about "any business" of the government and said the firms will be required to rely on New Delhi's own fact-check unit to determine the authenticity of any claim in a blow to many American giants that identify the South Asian market as their largest by users. From a report: Failure to comply with the rule, which also impacts internet s
  
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• China Plans $500 Million Subsea Internet Cable To Rival US-Backed Project

  06-04-2023 18:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Chinese state-owned telecom firms are developing a $500 million undersea fiber-optic internet cable network that would link Asia, the Middle East and Europe to rival a similar U.S.-backed project, four people involved in the deal told Reuters. From the report: The plan is a sign that an intensifying tech war between Beijing and Washington risks tearing the fabric of the internet. China's three main carriers -- China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China U
  
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• Apple Has Included Bitcoin Whitepaper in Every Version of macOS Since 2018

  06-04-2023 17:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  In every copy of macOS that has shipped since 2018, Apple has included the original Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto, and no-one seems to know why. From a report: The baffling discovery (or rediscovery - see below) was recently made by developer and waxy.org writer Andy Baio, who stumbled upon the PDF document while trying to fix a problem with his printer. Anyone with a Mac running macOS Mojave or later can see the PDF for themselves by typing the following command into Terminal:
  open /Sy
  
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• Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Search To Include Chat AI

  06-04-2023 16:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google plans to add conversational artificial-intelligence features to its flagship search engine, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said, as it deals with pressure from chatbots such as ChatGPT and wider business issues. From a report: Advances in AI would supercharge Google's ability to answer an array of search queries, Mr. Pichai said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He dismissed the notion that chatbots posed a threat to Google's search business, which accounts for more tha
  
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• Google Cracks Down on Predatory Loan Apps

  06-04-2023 16:06 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is cracking down on predatory loan apps by cutting off their access to "sensitive" data including debtors' contacts, photos and location, after growing criticism that unscrupulous lenders are tapping the contents of borrowers' smartphones for harassment and blackmail. From a report: The tech company said on Wednesday it would update policies for financial services apps listed on the Google Play store at the end of May, so that "apps aiming to provide or facilitate personal loans may not a
  
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• 'The Broad, Vague RESTRICT Act Is a Dangerous Substitute For Comprehensive Data Privacy Legislation'

  06-04-2023 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The recently introduced RESTRICT Act, otherwise known as the "TikTok ban," is a dangerous substitute for comprehensive data privacy legislation, writes the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a blog post. From the post: As we wrote in our initial review of the bill, the RESTRICT Act would authorize the executive branch to block 'transactions' and 'holdings' of 'foreign adversaries' that involve 'information and communication technology' and create 'undue or unacceptable risk' to national security
  
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• Many Workers Willing To Take a Pay Cut To Work Remotely, Survey Finds

  06-04-2023 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Americans have grown so fond of working from home that many are are willing to sacrifice pay for the privilege of skipping the office. So found a recent survey by recruiting firm Robert Half, which polled thousands of U.S. employees and hiring managers about their attitudes toward remote work. Some workers said they're willing to take a pay cut -- with an average reduction of 18% -- to remain fully remote, Paul McDonald, a Robert Half senior exe
  
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• Norwegian Seafloor Holds Clues To Antarctic Melting

  06-04-2023 09:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Antarctica's melting ice sheet could retreat much faster than previously thought, new research suggests. The BBC reports: The evidence comes from markings on the seafloor off Norway that record the pull-back of a melting European ice sheet thousands of years ago. Today, the fastest withdrawing glaciers in Antarctica are seen to retreat by up to 30m a day. But if they sped up, the extra melt water would have big implications for sea-level rises around the globe. Ice losses from Antarctica caused
  
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• Australia Is Quitting Coal In Record Time Thanks To Tesla

  06-04-2023 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Like so much in our modern era, Australia's high-stakes gamble on renewable energy starts with an Elon Musk Twitter brag. South Australia's last coal-fired power plant had closed, leaving the province of 1.8 million heavily reliant on wind farms and power imports from a neighboring region. When an unprecedented blackout caused much of the country to question the state's dependence on clean power, Tesla boasted -- on Twitter, of course -- that i
  
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• False Memories Can Form Within Seconds, Study Finds

  06-04-2023 03:25 via science.slashdot.org
  
  In a new study, scientists found that it's possible for people to form false memories of an event within seconds of it occurring. This almost-immediate misremembering seems to be shaped by our expectations of what should happen, the team says. Gizmodo reports: "This study is unique in two ways, in our opinion. First, it explores memory for events that basically just happened, between 0.3 and 3 seconds ago. Intuitively, we would think that these memories are pretty reliable," lead author Marte Ot
  
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• Museum Puts Decades-Old Cobalt RaQ Back On the Internet

  06-04-2023 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  New submitter aphexx writes: A computer museum has revived and rebuilt a Cobalt RaQ 3 server appliance from the Y2K days of the internet. It's now online and accessible -- complete with an ancient CGI guestbook at http://raq.serialport.org/. There were thousands upon thousands of Cobalt RaQs and Qubes scattered across the globe in the 2000s, and I remember they were especially popular with ISPs. Judging from the guestbook comments, it looks like I'm not the only one that remembers their impact.
  
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• Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games To Acquire Gaming Company Scopely For $4.9 Billion

  06-04-2023 02:02 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Savvy Games Group, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), has agreed to acquire Scopely, a maker of mobile games based in Culver City, California, for $4.9 billion, the companies said on Wednesday. Reuters reports: Scopely, founded in 2011, will become an autonomous operation under the Savvy umbrella, they said in a statement, noting the deal will "strengthen Savvy's global position" and enable Scopely to accelerate growth. Last year, state news agency SPA said Savvy would
  
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• New Models of IBM Model F Keyboard Mark II Incoming

  06-04-2023 01:20 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: What's even harder-core than the IBM Model M? The Model F, the keyboard that launched alongside the IBM PC in 1981. After a 2017 relaunch, new models with the original layout are here. The project, which back in 2017 relaunched a modern keyboard inspired by a compact space-saver version of IBM's classic Model F, is launching its second generation of brand-new premium input devices, and this time, various layouts will be available. [...]Enter
  
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• Cisco Systems Pulls Out of Russia, Destroys Millions of Dollars Worth of Equipment

  06-04-2023 00:40 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Cisco Systems has left the Russian market, destroying tens of millions of dollars worth of equipment and components in the process. This is due to the fact that the developer of network equipment has no plans to resume operations in the country. Gagadget reports: Cisco Systems announced it would cease sales in the Russian market in March 2022. Three months later, the company refused to renew its licenses. In addition, at the same time, the American manufacturer announced its withdrawal from Russ
  
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