ICT news

• US Judge Rejects Challenges To Apple's $50 Million Keyboard Settlement

  26-05-2023 23:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  A U.S. judge has approved Apple's $50 million class-action settlement resolving consumer claims over certain defective MacBook keyboards, in a ruling that spurned challenges to the deal. From a report: U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, federal court in his ruling called the settlement "fair, adequate and reasonable." Eleven consumers from New York, Florida, California, Michigan and several other states were the lead plaintiffs in the national class action alleging consum
  
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• Delaware Taps AI To Evacuate Crowded Beaches When Floods Hit

  26-05-2023 22:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Delaware's low elevation mixed with crowded beaches and limited exit routes make the state particularly vulnerable to massive flooding, but officials hope an influx of federal infrastructure money will trigger future evacuation plans automatically via artificial intelligence. From a report: The Biden administration was set to announce a total of $53 million in grants Thursday to Delaware and seven other states aimed at high-tech solutions to traffic congestion problems. Although the money comes
  
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• Why North and South Korea Have Big Ambitions in Space: An 'Unblinking Eye'

  26-05-2023 22:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The two Koreas are elevating a space race aimed at modernizing how each country monitors the other's improving military firepower. From a report: As hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough have dimmed in recent years, North and South Korea have grown more antagonistic toward one another and upped their displays of military might. They have traded missile tests. Pyongyang has sent drones that flew over downtown Seoul. South Korea has sharpened security and defense ties with the U.S. and Japan. The ri
  
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• Top Solar Firm Warns Excess Capacity Risks Wave of Failures

  26-05-2023 21:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  China's world-leading solar industry could face a wave of bankruptcies if the current aggressive expansion of manufacturing capacity continues, according to the sector's biggest player. From a report: More than half of China's solar manufacturers could be forced out in the next two to three years because of excess capacity, Li Zhenguo, president of Longi Green Energy Technology, said during an interview Wednesday on the sidelines of the SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai. "Those that will be hurt fi
  
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• New Superbug-killing Antibiotic Discovered Using AI

  26-05-2023 20:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Scientists have used artificial intelligence (AI) to discover a new antibiotic that can kill a deadly species of superbug. From a report: The AI helped narrow down thousands of potential chemicals to a handful that could be tested in the laboratory. The result was a potent, experimental antibiotic called abaucin, which will need further tests before being used. The researchers in Canada and the US say AI has the power to massively accelerate the discovery of new drugs. It is the latest example o
  
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• Hyundai and LG Announce $4.3 Billion Plant in Georgia To Build Batteries for Electric Vehicles

  26-05-2023 20:01 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Hyundai Motor and LG Energy have announced they will build a $4.3 billion electric battery plant as part of Hyundai's new electric vehicle assembly plant in southeast Georgia. From a report: The companies will split the investment, starting production as soon as late 2025. Hyundai Motor CEO Jaehoon Chang said in a statement that the battery plant would "create a strong foundation to lead the global EV transition," explaining the company wants to speed up efforts to produce electrified Hyundai an
  
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• Mozilla Stops Firefox Fullscreen VPN Ads After User Outrage

  26-05-2023 19:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Firefox users have been complaining about very intrusive full-screen advertisements promoting Mozilla VPN displayed in the web browser when navigating an unrelated page. From a report: The ads popping in Firefox disable the web browser's functionality, denying users access to the interface and graying out everything in the background until they close them. Some users reported on Reddit that the annoying full-screen ads even cause Firefox to become unresponsive for up to 30 seconds, forcing them
  
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• Ford CEO Says Tesla Superchargers May Become the Standard for EV Charging

  26-05-2023 18:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Ford CEO Jim Farley said Tesla's Superchargers may become the standard for EV charging in the U.S., a day after the Michigan-based company struck a deal allowing Ford owners to gain access to the rival charging stations in North America. From a report: "I think there's a chance you know," Farley said on Friday in response to a question on CNBC on whether Tesla Superchargers will become the standard for EV charging. Farley told CNBC that General Motors and other automakers are going to "have a bi
  
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• HP Finds Exciting New Way To DRM Printers

  26-05-2023 18:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon's No. 1 bestselling printer is the HP Deskjet 2755e. It's not hard to see why. For just $85, you get a wireless color printer, scanner, and six months of free ink. It also comes with HP Plus, one of the most dastardly schemes Big Inkjet has ever unleashed. I'm not talking about how printers quietly waste their own ink, or pretend cartridges are empty when they're not, or lock out official cartridges from other regions. Heck, I'm not even talking about
  
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• Windows XP Activation Algorithm Has Been Cracked

  26-05-2023 17:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Liam Proven, reporting for The Register: Over 21 years after it first came out, the Microsoft operating system that will not die is receiving another lease of life. It's possible to activate new installations, safely and securely, without a crack, off line. A blog post on tinyapps has revealed the hot news that nobody sane has been waiting for: the algorithm that Microsoft uses to validate Windows XP product keys has been cracked and reimplemented. As a result it's now possible to generate valid
  
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• Portugal Effectively Bans Chinese Companies From 5G Network

  26-05-2023 16:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Portugal has banned companies from 'high-risk' countries and jurisdictions from supplying equipment for its fifth-generation phone network, becoming the latest western nation to effectively block China's Huawei from its market. From a report: The country will prohibit the use of equipment in its 5G wireless network from suppliers based outside the European Union or from states that don't belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Developmen
  
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• Meta Offers To Limit Use of Ad Data To Address UK Competition Concerns

  26-05-2023 16:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Britain's competition watchdog on Friday said social media giant Meta had offered to limit its use of other businesses' advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace service to address the regulator's competition concerns. From a report: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was minded to accept the commitments, which include advertisers being able to opt out of allowing their data to be used to improve the Facebook Marketplace classified ads platform. CMA executive director of enf
  
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• A Popular Password Hashing Algorithm Starts Its Long Goodbye

  26-05-2023 15:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Bcrypt turns 25 this year, and Niels Provos, one of its coinventors, says that looking back, the algorithm has always had good energy, thanks to its open source availability and the technical characteristics that have fueled its longevity. Provos spoke to WIRED about a retrospective on the algorithm that he published this week in Usenix ;login:. Like so many digital workhorses, though, there are now more robust and secure alternatives to bcrypt, in
  
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• Solar Power To Overtake Oil Production Investment For First Time

  26-05-2023 12:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), investment in clean energy is set to surpass spending on fossil fuels in 2023, with solar projects expected to outpace oil production for the first time. Reuters reports: Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report. Around 90% of that clean energy spending comes from advanced economies and China, how
  
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• Researchers Induce Hibernation In Non-Hibernating Species With Ultrasound

  26-05-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Researchers have induced hibernation in a non-hibernating species (rats) with ultrasound, indicating the potential to do the same in humans with applications for medical trauma and spaceflight," writes longtime Slashdot reader Baron_Yam. The research has been published in the journal Nature Metabolism. From a report: "Ultrasound is the only available energy form that can noninvasively focus on any location within the brain with high precision and without ionizing radiation," Hong Chen, a medica
  
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• Unearthed: CosmicEnergy, Malware For Causing Kremlin-Style Power Disruptions

  26-05-2023 05:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Researchers have uncovered malware designed to disrupt electric power transmission and may have been used by the Russian government in training exercises for creating or responding to cyberattacks on electric grids. Known as CosmicEnergy, the malware has capabilities that are comparable to those found in malware known as Industroyer and Industroyer2, both of which have been widely attributed by researchers to Sandworm, the name of one of the
  
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• Tesla Model Y Is Now the World's Best-Selling Car, First EV To Do So

  26-05-2023 03:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Tesla Model Y has become the world's best-selling car in the first quarter of 2023, according to industry analyst JATO Dynamics, making it the first time an electric vehicle (EV) has achieved this milestone. Electrek reports: The Model Y has dethroned the Toyota Corolla as the world's best-selling car in Q1 and looks like it may well maintain this position for the full year. JATO Dynamics analyst Felipe Munoz compiled the data for Motor1, showing that the Model Y had 267,200 sales in Q1, acc
  
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• JPMorgan Developing ChatGPT-Like AI Service For Investment Advice

  26-05-2023 02:20 via slashdot.org
  
  JPMorgan Chase has applied to trademark a product called IndexGPT, indicating its development of a ChatGPT-like software service that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to select investments for customers. CNBC reports: IndexGPT will tap "cloud computing software using artificial intelligence" for "analyzing and selecting securities tailored to customer needs," according to the filing. [...] But JPMorgan may be the first financial incumbent aiming to release a GPT-like product directly to its cus
  
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• IBM Wants To Build a 100,000-Qubit Quantum Computer

  26-05-2023 01:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  IBM has announced its goal to build a 100,000-qubit quantum computing machine within the next 10 years in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago. MIT Technology Review reports: Late last year, IBM took the record for the largest quantum computing system with a processor that contained 433 quantum bits, or qubits, the fundamental building blocks of quantum information processing. Now, the company has set its sights on a much bigger target: a 100,000-qubit machine
  
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• Captcha Is Asking Users To Identify Objects That Don't Exist

  26-05-2023 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: People trying to use Discord are being asked to identify an object that does not exist. The object in question is a "Yoko," which appears to be a kind of mix between a snail and a yoyo. Multiple people have reported seeing a prompt to identify a Yoko when asked to solve a simple captcha prompt while trying to use Discord. The picture of the Yoko, as well as the other images in the captcha, appear generated by AI. Another user complained on Tw
  
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• Intel Mulls Cutting Ties To 16 and 32-Bit Support

  26-05-2023 00:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Intel has proposed a potential simplification of the x86 architecture by creating a new x86S architecture that removes certain old features, such as 16-bit and some elements of 32-bit support. A technical note on Intel's developer blog proposes the change, with a 46-page white paper (PDF) providing more details. The Register reports: The result would be a family of processors which boot straight into x86-64 mode. That would mean bypassing the traditional series of transitions -- 16-bit real mode
  
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