ICT news

• Netflix Will End Its DVD-By-Mail Service After 25 Years

  18-04-2023 23:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot reader mpercy shares an email they received from Netflix announcing the shut down of its original business of delivering DVDs by mail: Just received an email from Netflix: "For 25 years, it's been our extraordinary privilege to mail movie nights to our members all across America. On September 29th, 2023, we will ship our final iconic red envelope. While times have changed since our first shipment in March 1998, our goal has remained the same: to provide you with access to the broadest c
  
  Read more

• Apple Is the One Big Tech Company Without a Clear ChatGPT Strategy

  18-04-2023 22:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  The global excitement around ChatGPT, and the haste to copy it, resembles the introduction of an Apple product. Everyone is stoked to try it, and other tech companies are working late nights to reverse engineer it. This time, Apple is nowhere to be found. Has the speed of it all caught the world's most influential tech company by surprise? From a report: Microsoft has poured $10 billion into OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and reconfigured how it builds server farms to accommodate more of Nvidia's
  
  Read more

• Japan Government To Use ChatGPT for First Time on Red Tape

  18-04-2023 22:01 via slashdot.org
  
  Japan is using OpenAI's ChatGPT to try and make its often opaque and complex government regulations easier to understand. From a report: The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is now trying out the chatbot to simplify official documents and make them more accessible, Minister Tetsuro Nomura said. It's the first time that a branch of Japan's central government has publicly said it is testing out OpenAI's artificial intelligence. "We are not doing anything big with this," Nomura told
  
  Read more

• Scientists Want To Dump Iron Nanoparticles Into the Oceans To Save the Planet

  18-04-2023 21:10 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: We know from natural events in the past that increasing the amount of iron in these seas can dramatically increase the growth of phytoplankton. When iron-rich ash from volcanic eruptions has fallen on the ocean's surface, it has triggered phytoplankton blooms large enough to see from space. This knowledge led oceanographer John Martin to put forth something called the "iron hypothesis," which suggests that "fertilizing" the ocean with iron could increase the
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The Fascinating and Evolving Story of Bacteria and Cancer

  18-04-2023 20:25 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Dr Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, writing over the weekend: It was medical dogma: cancer tissue is sterile. That's what we had learned and taught in medical school for decades even though bacteria were detected in tumors more than 100 years ago. When studies were reported asserting that bacteria were present in tumor tissue, they were consistently debunked as representing contaminants. Then came new tools that include single-cell sequencin
  
  Read more

• Reddit Wants To Get Paid for Helping To Teach Big AI Systems

  18-04-2023 20:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Reddit has long been a forum for discussion on a huge variety of topics, and companies like Google and OpenAI have been using it in their A.I. projects. From a report: Reddit has long been a hot spot for conversation on the internet. About 57 million people visit the site every day to chat about topics as varied as makeup, video games and pointers for power washing driveways. In recent years, Reddit's array of chats also have been a free teaching aid for companies like Google, OpenAI and Microso
  
  Read more

• Microsoft Readies AI Chip as Machine Learning Costs Surge

  18-04-2023 19:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  After placing an early bet on OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Microsoft has another secret weapon in its arsenal: its own artificial intelligence chip for powering the large-language models responsible for understanding and generating humanlike language. The Information: The software giant has been developing the chip, internally code-named Athena, since as early as 2019, according to two people with direct knowledge of the project. The chips are already available to a small group of Microsoft a
  
  Read more

• Southwest Delayed Hundreds of Departures Due To a Networking Glitch

  18-04-2023 18:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Southwest Airlines has fixed a technical issue that delayed hundreds of flights across the country. In a statement, Southwest Airlines spokesperson Dan Landson says the company resumed operations after working through "data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure." From a report: The airline started having issues at around 10:30AM ET, with data from FlightAware suggesting that over 1,700 Southwest flights have been delayed so far. The Federal Aviation Administration paused departures
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• India Has Lost the Second-Largest Forest Area Among All Countries in Five Years

  18-04-2023 18:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  India lost 668,400 hectares of jungles on average between 2015 and 2020, a new report has said. From a report: The is only second to the scale of deforestation in Brazil, noted the report released last month by Utility Bidder, a UK-based utility costs comparison firm. Brazil lost nearly 1.7 million hectares of forest between 2015-2020, as climate change adversely affected forest growth. Utility Bidder's report analyzed deforestation trends in 98 countries over the past 30 years. "As the country
  
  Read more

• WhatsApp, Signal and Encrypted Messaging Apps Unite Against UK's Online Safety Bill

  18-04-2023 17:21 via news.slashdot.org
  
  WhatsApp, Signal and other messaging services have urged the UK government to rethink the Online Safety Bill (OSB). From a report: They are concerned that the bill could undermine end-to-end encryption - which means the message can only be read on the sender and the recipient's app and nowhere else. Ministers want the regulator to be able to ask the platforms to monitor users, to root out child abuse images. The government says it is possible to have both privacy and child safety. "We support st
  
  Read more

• NSO Hacked iPhones Without User Clicks in 3 New Ways, Researchers Say

  18-04-2023 16:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Israeli spyware maker NSO Group deployed at least three new "zero-click" hacks against iPhones last year, finding ways to penetrate some of Apple's latest software, researchers at Citizen Lab have discovered. From a report: The attacks struck phones with iOS 15 and early versions of iOS 16 operating software, Citizen Lab said in a report Tuesday. The lab, based at the University of Toronto, shared its results with Apple, which has now fixed the flaws that NSO had been exploiting. It's the latest
  
  Read more

• Worthless Degrees Are Creating an Unemployable Generation in India

  18-04-2023 16:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Business is booming in India's $117 billion education industry and new colleges are popping up at breakneck speed. Yet thousands of young Indians are finding themselves graduating with limited or no skills, undercutting the economy at a pivotal moment of growth. From a report: Desperate to get ahead, some of these young people are paying for two or three degrees in the hopes of finally landing a job. They are drawn to colleges popping up inside small apartment buildings or inside shops in market
  
  Read more

• Scientists Discover 1st 'Neutron-Rich' Isotope of Uranium Since 1979

  18-04-2023 15:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Live Science: Scientists have discovered and synthesized an entirely new isotope of the highly radioactive element uranium. But it might last only 40 minutes before decaying into other elements. The new isotope, uranium-241, has 92 protons (as all uranium isotopes do) and 149 neutrons, making it the first new neutron-rich isotope of uranium discovered since 1979. While atoms of a given element always have the same number of protons, different isotopes, or
  
  Read more

• APT28 Exploits Known Vulnerability To Carry Out Reconnaissance and Deploy Malware on Cisco Routers

  18-04-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  NCSC, NSA, CISA, and FBI have released a joint advisory to provide details of tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with APT28's exploitation of Cisco routers in 2021.  By exploiting the vulnerability CVE-2017-6742, APT28 used infrastructure to masquerade Simple Network Management protocol (SNMP) access into Cisco routers worldwide, including routers in Europe, U.S. government institutions, and approximately 250 Ukrainian victims.
  CISA encourages personnel to revie
  
  Read more

• Solar Sails Could Guide Interplanetary Travel, Says New Study

  18-04-2023 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A team of scientists led by Slava Turyshev of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology have proposed merging miniature satellite units with a solar energy process that would create a fast, inexpensive, lightweight mode of travel. Phys.Org reports: Solar sailing is a process by which the pressure generated by the sun's radiation is harnessed for propulsion. Recent innovations in this technology were demonstrated in a successful crowdfunded 2019 mission undertaken by
  
  Read more

• Elon Musk Is Working On a 'Maximum Truth-Seeking AI' Called 'TruthGPT'

  18-04-2023 09:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Elon Musk says he's working on "TruthGPT," a ChatGPT alternative that acts as a "maximum truth-seeking AI." The Verge reports: The billionaire laid out his vision for an AI rival during an interview with Fox News's Tucker Carlson, saying an alternative approach to AI creation was needed to avoid the destruction of humanity. "I'm going to start something which I call TruthGPT or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe," Musk said. "And I think this might be
  
  Read more

• Pacific Garbage Patch Providing a Deep Ocean Home For Coastal Species

  18-04-2023 05:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A survey of plastic waste picked up in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre -- aka the Giant Pacific Garbage Patch -- has revealed that the garbage is providing a home to species that would otherwise not be found in the deep ocean. Over two-thirds of the trash examined plays host to coastal marine species, many of which are clearly reproducing in what would otherwise be a foreign habitat. The findings suggest that, as far as coastal species ar
  
  Read more

• YouTube TV Nabs Its First Technical Emmy Win For 'Views' Feature

  18-04-2023 03:00 via slashdot.org
  
  YouTube TV just won its first Technical Emmy award for its "Views" suite of features, which lets users access sports highlights, key plays, player stats and game scores. TechCrunch reports: At the 74th annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards last night, YouTube TV was declared the winner for the category "AI-ML Curation of Sports Highlights." The tech company also announced today that Key Plays reached a notable milestone -- the feature was used in over 10 million watch sessions on the p
  
  Read more

• New MacBooks, a Big New WatchOS Update, and Apple's Mixed Reality Headset To Be Announced At WWDC

  18-04-2023 01:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  In addition to the company's long-rumored mixed reality headset, Apple is expected to launch new MacBooks, as well as a "major" update to the Apple Watch's watchOS software at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. All told, WWDC 2023 could end up being one of Apple's "biggest product launch events ever," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The Verge reports: Let's start with the Macs. Gurman doesn't explicitly say which macOS-powered computers Apple could announce in June, but li
  
  Read more

• How Google's 'Don't Be Evil' Motto Has Evolved For the AI Age

  18-04-2023 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  In a special report for CBS News' 60 Minutes, Google CEO Sundar Pichai shares his concerns about artificial intelligence and why the company is choosing to not release advanced models of its AI chatbot. From the report: When Google filed for its initial public offering in 2004, its founders wrote that the company's guiding principle, "Don't be evil" was meant to help ensure it did good things for the world, even if it had to forgo some short term gains. The phrase remains in Google's code of con
  
  Read more

• LockBit Ransomware Samples For Apple Macs Hint At New Risks For MacOS Users

  18-04-2023 00:20 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader writes: Security researchers are examining newly discovered Mac ransomware samples from the notorious gang LockBit, marking the first known example of a prominent ransomware group toying with macOS versions of its malware. Spotted by MalwareHunterTeam, the samples of ransomware encryptors seem to have first cropped up in the malware analysis repository VirusTotal in November and December 2022, but went unnoticed until yesterday. LockBit seems to have created both a version of
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!