ICT news

• Government Cybersecurity Agencies Unite to Urge Secure Software Design Practices

  15-04-2023 23:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Several government cybersecurity agencies united to urge secure-by-design and secure-by-default software. Releasing "joint guidance" for software manufactuers were two U.S. security agencies — the FBI and the NSA — joined with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the cybersecurity authorities of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, and New Zealand. "To create a future where technology and associated products are safe for customers," th
  
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• Mars Helicopter 'Ingenuity' Completes 50th Flight After Two Years on Mars

  15-04-2023 22:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Two years have passed since the Perseverance rover landed on Mars, carrying with it the Ingenuity helicopter," notes Slashdot reader quonset. "Created from off-the-shelf components, the helicopter was only designed to last about five flights. Instead, two years later, having become the first aircraft to fly and land on another planet, Ingenuity successfully completed its 50th flight."
  CNN reports that the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) helicopter has now "surpassed all expectations," transitioning into
  
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• Elon Musk Founds a New Artificial Intelligence Company Named X.AI

  15-04-2023 21:34 via slashdot.org
  
  The Verge reports:
  Elon Musk has created a new company dedicated to artificial intelligence — and it's called X.AI, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company, which a Nevada filing indicates was incorporated last month, currently has Musk as its director and Jared Birchall, the director of Musk's family office, listed as its secretary. The filing, which The Verge has also obtained, indicates that Musk incorporated the business on March 9th, 2023.
  Rumors about Musk starting
  
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• Tax-Filing Sites Ask to Blab Your Financial Info to 'Business Partners'

  15-04-2023 20:34 via slashdot.org
  
  Online tax-filing services from TurboTax and H&R Block "want to blab your tax return secrets," warns the Washington Post. "Why? To help them make more money."If you prepare your taxes online with TurboTax or H&R Block software, at some point you'll see a message that I found confusing. "We can help you do more," TurboTax says. In this case, that "help" is funneling the private information from your tax return to Intuit — the company that owns TurboTax, Credit Karma and accounting s
  
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• The Rise of DOOM Chronicled on Retro Site for 'Shareware Heroes' Book

  15-04-2023 19:34 via games.slashdot.org
  
  SharewareHeroes.com recreates all the fonts and cursor you'd see after dialing up a local bulletin-board system in the early 1990s. It's to promote a new book — successfully crowdfunded by 970 backers — to chronicle "a critical yet long overlooked chapter in video game history: the rise and eventual fall of the shareware model.
  The book promises to explore "a hidden games publishing market" that for several years "had no powerful giants," with games instead distributed "across the na
  
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• What Happens When You Put 25 ChatGPT-Backed Agents Into an RPG Town?

  15-04-2023 18:34 via games.slashdot.org
  
  "A group of researchers at Stanford University and Google have created a miniature RPG-style virtual world similar to The Sims," writes Ars Technica, "where 25 characters, controlled by ChatGPT and custom code, live out their lives independently with a high degree of realistic behavior.""Generative agents wake up, cook breakfast, and head to work; artists paint, while authors write; they form opinions, notice each other, and initiate conversations; they remember and reflect on days past as they
  
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• Python Foundation Raises Concerns Over EU's Proposed Cybersecurity Rules

  15-04-2023 17:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Python Software Foundation is "concerned that proposed EU cybersecurity laws will leave open source organizations and individuals unfairly liable for distributing incorrect code," according to the Register. The PSF reviewed the EU's proposed "Cyber Resilience Act" and "Product Liability Act" and reports "issues that put the mission of our organization and the health of the open-source software community at risk."
  From the Register's report:
  "If the proposed law is enforced as currently writt
  
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• New Leaked Documents on Discord Reveal More Chinese Spy Balloons

  15-04-2023 16:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Washington Post found a new tranche of "top-secret intelligence documents" on Discord, and based on them reported Friday that U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of at least two additional Chinese spy balloons.
  Based on the classified documents, the Post also reports that "questions lingered about the true capabilities of the one that flew over the continental United States in January and February."The Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States this year, called Killeen-23 by U.S
  
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• Why Is 'Juice Jacking' Suddenly Back In the News?

  15-04-2023 15:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report from KrebsOnSecurity: KrebsOnSecurity received a nice bump in traffic this week thanks to tweets from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about "juice jacking," a term first coined here in 2011 to describe a potential threat of data theft when one plugs their mobile device into a public charging kiosk. It remains unclear what may have prompted the alerts, but the good news is that there are some fairly basi
  
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• Virginia Norwood, 'Mother' of Satellite Imaging Systems, Dies At 96

  15-04-2023 12:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Virginia Norwood, an aerospace pioneer who invented the scanner that has been used to map and study the earth from space for more than 50 years, has died at her home in Topanga, Calif. She was 96. The New York Times reports: Her death was announced by the United States Geological Survey, whose Landsat satellite program relies on her invention. Her daughter, Naomi Norwood, said her mother was found dead in her bed on the morning of March 27. The Landsat satellites, speeding 438 miles above the su
  
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• Pentagon Official Floats a Theory For Unexplained Sightings: Alien Motherships

  15-04-2023 09:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  The official in charge of a secretive Pentagon effort to investigate unexplained aerial incursions has co-authored an academic paper that presents an out-of-this-world theory: Recent objects could actually be alien probes from a mothership sent to study Earth. Politico reports: In a draft paper dated March 7 (PDF), Sean Kirkpatrick, head of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and Harvard professor Avi Loeb teamed up to write that the objects, which appear to defy all physics, co
  
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• 'Overemployed' Hustlers Exploit ChatGPT To Take On Even More Full-Time Jobs

  15-04-2023 05:30 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: About a year ago, Ben found out that one of his friends had quietly started to work multiple jobs at the same time. The idea had become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, when working from home became normalized, making the scheme easier to pull off. A community of multi-job hustlers, in fact, had come together online, referring to themselves as the "overemployed." The idea excited Ben, who lives in Toronto and asked that Motherboard not u
  
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• Sega Nears Deal To Acquire 'Angry Birds' Maker Rovio For $1 Billion

  15-04-2023 04:02 via games.slashdot.org
  
  According to the Wall Street Journal, Sega parent company Sega Sammy Holdings is nearing a deal to purchase "Angry Birds" maker Rovio for $1 billion. Polygon reports: Rovio is best known for Angry Birds, the physics puzzle game that launched on iOS in 2009. Rovio has delivered multiple sequels, spinoffs, and tie-ins with other brands, including Star Wars, Transformers, and the animated movie Rio. Sega and Rovio also teamed up in 2015 to bring Sonic the Hedgehog characters to Angry Birds Epic, a
  
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• India Says New IT Fact-Checking Unit Will Not Censor Journalism

  15-04-2023 03:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A proposed Indian government unit to fact-check news on social media is not about censoring journalism nor will it have any impact on media reportage, a federal minister said on Friday. Reuters reports: Recently amended IT regulation requires online platforms like Meta's Facebook and Twitter to "make reasonable efforts" to not "publish, share or host" any information relating to the government that is "fake, false or misleading." Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India minister of state for IT, said in an o
  
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• China the Largest Buyer of Chipmaking Machines As Sales Hit An All-Time High

  15-04-2023 02:45 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Global sales of semiconductor fab equipment grew by 5 percent during 2022 to hit an all-time high, with China the largest buyer despite a fall in its investment amid the standoff with the US over access to chips and other technology. The Register reports: The figures come from SEMI, the industry body for electronics manufacturing and supply chain, in a new Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) report. According to the report, sales of chipmaking kit hit $107.6 billion last
  
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• Mass Layoffs and Absentee Bosses Create a Morale Crisis At Meta

  15-04-2023 02:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, has declared that 2023 will be the "year of efficiency" at his company. So far, efficiency has translated into mass layoffs. He has conducted two rounds of cuts over the past six months, with two more to come; these will eliminate more than 21,000 people. Mr. Zuckerberg is also closing 5,000 open positions, which amounts to 30 percent of his company's work force. At the same time, some of Meta's
  
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• Google's 'Android for Cars' Platform Now Supports IoT Apps

  15-04-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Back in 2021, Samsung brought SmartThings to Android Auto. Google is now opening the door for more smart home/Internet of Things (IoT) apps on Android Auto and Automotive. 9to5Google reports: Android Auto today supports media and mapping/navigation apps. Google is now "enabling developers to bring [IoT] apps to cars." This might include controlling home security and doors from a touchscreen UI rather than having to rely on voice commands (assuming Google Assistant supports your home ecosystem).
  
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• Google Must Face Trial Over Sonos Patents, California Judge Says

  15-04-2023 00:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Alphabet's Google received a mixed ruling on Thursday from a San Francisco federal judge in a patent lawsuit brought by Sonos over wireless audio technology, failing to invalidate all of the patents before a trial but narrowing Sonos' claims. Reuters reports: The case, set for trial May 8, is part of a contentious intellectual property dispute between the former business partners over their smart speakers that includes lawsuits in the United States, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. S
  
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• Parler Shuts Down As New Owner Says Conservative Platform Needs Big Revamp

  15-04-2023 00:00 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Parler, the self-described "uncancelable free speech platform," has been sold and shut down while its new owner conducts a "strategic assessment." The platform will be back eventually, new owner Starboard says. The Parler website is now a simple page containing only today's press release announcing the acquisition, which was completed without financial terms being disclosed. "No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conser
  
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