ICT news

• China Bars Purchases of Micron Chips, Escalating US Conflict

  21-05-2023 22:52 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "China delivered the latest salvo in an escalating semiconductor war with the U.S.," reports Bloomberg, "announcing that Micron Technology Inc. products have failed to pass a cybersecurity review in the country."In a statement Sunday, Beijing warned operators of key infrastructure against buying the company's goods, saying it found "relatively serious" cybersecurity risks in Micron products sold in the country. The components caused "significant security risks to our critical information infrast
  
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• Google Colab Promises 'AI-Powered Coding, Free of Charge'

  21-05-2023 21:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Google Colab hosts free cloud-based "executable documents" that, among other things, let you write and run code in your browser (in dozens of languages, including Python).
  Over 7 million people, including students, already use Colab, according to a recent post on Google's blog, "and now it's getting even better with advances in AI [with] features like code completions, natural language to code generation and even a code-assisting chatbot."
  Google says it will "dramatically increase programming s
  
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• 'An Example of a Very Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects'

  21-05-2023 20:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Time magazine once described Lauren Weinstein as an internet-policy expert and privacy advocate. Also a long-time Slashdot reader, he now brings this cautionary blog post "to share with you an example of what Google account recovery failure means to the people involved..."
  In this case it's a 90-year-old woman who "For at least the last decade... was just using the stored password to login and check her email," according to an email Weinstein received:When her ancient iPad finally died, she trie
  
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• Millions of Android Phones and TVs May Come with Preinstalled Malware

  21-05-2023 19:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  "Multiple lines of Android devices came with preinstalled malware," reports Ars Technica, "that couldn't be removed without users taking heroic measures."
  Their article cites two reports released Thursday — one from Trend Micro and one from TechCrunch:
  Trend Micro researchers following up on a presentation delivered at the Black Hat security conference in Singapore reported that as many as 8.9 million phones comprising as many as 50 different brands were infected with malware... ["It's hig
  
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• How US Universities Hope to Build a New Semiconductor Workforce

  21-05-2023 18:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  There's shortages of young semiconductor engineers around the world, reports IEEE Spectrum — partially explained by this quote from Intel's director of university research collaboration. "We hear from academics that we're losing EE students to software. But we also need the software. I think it's a totality of 'We need more students in STEM careers.'"
  So after America's CHIPS and Science Act "aimed at kick-starting chip manufacturing in the United States," the article notes that universiti
  
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• Titanic: First Ever Full-sized Scans Reveal Wreck As Never Seen Before

  21-05-2023 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "The first full-sized digital scan of the Titanic, which lies 3,800m (12,500ft) down in the Atlantic, has been created using deep-sea mapping," reports the BBC.
  Their article includes a one-minute video showing the results. "It provides a unique 3D view of the entire ship, enabling it to be seen as if the water has been drained away. "
  "There are still questions, basic questions, that need to be answered about the ship," Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst, told BBC News. He said the model was "
  
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• 700,000 Free Programmable 'Micro Bits' with LEDs Given to UK Schools

  21-05-2023 16:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  It's an educational pocket-sized codable computer with a motion detector, compass, and other sensors. Wikipedia describes the micro:bit as "half the size of a credit card" -- (43 mm x 52 mm or 1.7 inches by 2.0 inches).
  Now long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: If British schoolchildren aren't inspired to code by the tiny 5x5 grid of LED lights on the micro:bit single-board computer, well it's not for lack of trying. The BBC on Monday announced a partnership with Microsoft, Arm, and others th
  
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• Are Smartphones Costing Gen Z Crucial Life Experiences?

  21-05-2023 13:34 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  CNN's chief medical correspondent spoke to psychology professor Jean Twenge from San Diego State University who in 2018 published a book which, even before lockdowns, warned that teenagers were missing crucial life experiences. Its title? "iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy — and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood — and What That Means for the Rest of Us."
  From CNN's report:
  In her book, Twenge makes the case that Gen Z (
  
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• The Country With the Most DIgital Payments: India

  21-05-2023 09:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  India's government gave nearly early household a bank account offering app-based digital money transfers, reports the Economist. But that's just the beginning:Take a walk on Mumbai's Juhu beach and little has changed in five years — except for the QR codes adorning every food stall. Go to São Paulo in Brazil, Beijing in China, or many other cities across the emerging world and you find something similar. "Most people only want to use UPI," says Govind, a seaside-snack vendor at Juhu
  
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• Ask Slashdot: Why Should I Be Afraid of Artificial Intelligence?

  21-05-2023 05:34 via ask.slashdot.org
  
  "I keep reading and hearing about calls for regulations on artificial intelligence," writes long-time Slashdot reader bartoku , "and it pisses me off.""I want more so called artificial intelligence, not less, and I do not want it to be regulated, filtered, restricted in anyway."I love that Deep Fakes are now available to the masses, and I stopped believing anything is real in 1997 after Hoffman and De Niro scared me in " Wag the Dog".I love automation and I want more of it; robots please take my
  
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• HP Rushes to Fix Bricked Printers After Faulty Firmware Update

  21-05-2023 03:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Last week the Telegraph reported that a recent firmware update to HP printers "prevents customers from using any cartridges other than those fitted with an HP chip, which are often more expensive. If the customer tries to use a non-HP ink cartridge, the printer will refuse to print."
  Some HP "Officejet" printers can disable this "dynamic security" through a firmware update, PC World reported earlier this week. But HP still defends the feature, arguing it's "to protect HP's innovations and intell
  
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• Freenet 2023: a Drop-in Decentralized Replacement for the Web - and More

  21-05-2023 00:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Wikipedia describes Freenet as "a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant, anonymous communication," released in the year 2000. "Both Freenet and some of its associated tools were originally designed by Ian Clarke," Wikipedia adds. (And in 2000 Clarke answered questions from Slashdot's readers...)
  And now Ian Clarke (aka Sanity — Slashdot reader #1,431) returns to share this announcement:Freenet, a familiar name to Slashdot readers for over 23 years, has undergone a radical transfor
  
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