ICT news

• Ransomware Attack On US Dental Insurance Giant Exposes Data of 9 Million Patients

  31-05-2023 23:20 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: An apparent ransomware attack on one of America's largest dental health insurers has compromised the personal information of almost nine million individuals in the United States. The Atlanta-based Managed Care of North America (MCNA) Dental claims to be the largest dental insurer in the nation for government-sponsored plans covering children and seniors. In a notice posted on Friday, the company said it became aware of "certain activity in our
  
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• Ubuntu Core as an immutable Linux Desktop base

  31-05-2023 22:41 via news.slashdot.org
  
  motang writes: Canonical, the sponsor of widely popular Ubuntu Linux, plans on shipping the next LTS in two versions. In addition to the traditional version, there will be one immutable desktop OS flavor. From Canonical blog: The technology behind snaps extends beyond the distribution of desktop applications however. With Ubuntu Core this philosophy of security and stability applies equally to the components that make up the entire Ubuntu operating system. Rather than treating the OS as a single
  
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• Firefox Users on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 Moving To Extended Support Release

  31-05-2023 22:02 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Mozilla: Firefox version 115 will be the last supported Firefox version for users of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. If you are using these versions of Windows you will be moved to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) channel by an application update. Mozilla will provide security updates for these users until September 2024. No security updates will be provided after that date.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Popular Reddit App Apollo Would Need To Pay $20 Million Per Year Under New API Pricing

  31-05-2023 21:36 via slashdot.org
  
  Popular Reddit app Apollo might not be able to operate as is in the future due to planned API pricing that Reddit is implementing. From a report: Apollo developer Christian Selig was today told that Reddit plans to charge $12,000 for 50 million API requests. Last month, Apollo made seven billion requests, which would mean Selig would need to pay $1.7 million per month or $20 million per year to Reddit to keep the app running. The average Apollo user uses 344 requests per day, which would be pric
  
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• Millions of PC Motherboards Were Sold With a Firmware Backdoor

  31-05-2023 20:41 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Hidden code in hundreds of models of Gigabyte motherboards invisibly and insecurely downloads programs -- a feature ripe for abuse, researchers say. From a report: Hiding malicious programs in a computer's UEFI firmware, the deep-seated code that tells a PC how to load its operating system, has become an insidious trick in the toolkit of stealthy hackers. But when a motherboard manufacturer installs its own hidden backdoor in the firmware of millions of computers -- and doesn't even put a proper
  
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• Apple Touts $1.1 Trillion in App Store Commerce in 2022

  31-05-2023 20:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Ahead of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference next week, the company is offering an update on its app ecosystem with the release of a new report detailing app earnings over the course of last year. From a report: In the analysis, released today, Apple says its App Store ecosystem generated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022, 90% of which was commission-free -- a metric it likes to tout to downplay the growing complaints about the high cost of doing business on a marketplace
  
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• California Senate Passes 'Right to Repair Act'

  31-05-2023 19:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The California state Senate passed Sen. Susan Eggman's (Stockton) Right to Repair Act (SB 244) on Tuesday with a 38-0, bipartisan vote. From a report: It's the furthest a Right to Repair bill has advanced in the state. The bill would significantly expand consumers' and independent repair shops' access to the necessary parts, tools and service information required for repairing consumer electronics and appliances. "This is a huge victory for anyone who's ever been faced with limited options when
  
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• The Original Chromecast Hits End of Life After a Decade of Service

  31-05-2023 18:42 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Rest now, little Chromecast. Google has announced the decade-old Chromecast 1 is finally hitting end of life. From a report: A message on Google's Chromecast firmware support page announced the wind-down of support, saying, "Support for Chromecast (1st gen) has ended, which means these devices no longer receive software or security updates, and Google does not provide technical support for them. Users may notice a degradation in performance." The 1st-gen Chromecast launched in 2013 for $35.
  The
  
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• Amazon's Kill List: 37 Projects That Are No More

  31-05-2023 18:05 via slashdot.org
  
  Amid slowing sales growth, CEO Andy Jassy is culling projects concocted during the Jeff Bezos era. From a report: When Jeff Bezos ran the show, Amazon.com encouraged employees to pitch product ideas -- then take them from concept to reality with minimal bureaucratic second-guessing. The spaghetti-against-the-wall approach didn't always generate strong sellers -- the Fire Phone is one famous misfire -- but the company was growing sufficiently quickly to risk some failures and move on with few reg
  
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• India Cuts Periodic Table and Evolution From School Textbooks

  31-05-2023 17:25 via science.slashdot.org
  
  In India, children under 16 returning to school this month at the start of the school year will no longer be taught about evolution, the periodic table of elements, or sources of energy. Nature: The news that evolution would be cut from the curriculum for students aged 15-16 was widely reported last month, when thousands of people signed a petition in protest. But official guidance has revealed that a chapter on the periodic table will be cut, too, along with other foundational topics such as so
  
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• Popular Torrent Site RARBG Shuts Down

  31-05-2023 16:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  RARBG, one of the world's largest torrent sites, has said "farewell" to millions of users. From a report: The site, which was a prominent and stable source of new movie and TV show releases, cited a variety of reasons behind its decision to cease operations. The surprise shutdown marks the end of an era.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• ChatGPT Risks Divide Biden Administration Over AI Rules in EU

  31-05-2023 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Biden administration officials are divided over how aggressively new artificial intelligence tools should be regulated -- and their differences are playing out this week in Sweden. From a report: Some White House and Commerce Department officials support the strong measures proposed by the European Union for AI products such as ChatGPT and Dall-E, people involved in the discussions said. Meanwhile, US national security officials and some in the State Department say aggressively regulating this n
  
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• Supreme Court Declines To Hear Bid To Sue Reddit Over Child Porn

  31-05-2023 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a bid by child pornography victims to overcome a legal shield for internet companies in a case involving a lawsuit accusing Reddit Inc of violating federal law by failing to rid the discussion website of this illegal content. The justices turned away the appeal of a lower court's decision to dismiss the proposed class action lawsuit on the grounds that Reddit was shielded by a U.S. statute called
  
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• Federal Judge Makes History In Holding That Border Searches of Cell Phones Require a Warrant

  31-05-2023 12:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  In a groundbreaking ruling, a district court judge in New York, United States v. Smith (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 2023), declared that a warrant is necessary for cell phone searches at the border, unless there are urgent circumstances. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reports: The Ninth Circuit in United States v. Cano (2019) held that a warrant is required for a device search at the border that seeks data other than "digital contraband" such as child pornography. Similarly, the Fourth Circuit in
  
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• SpaceX Mission Carrying Former NASA Astronaut, Three Paying Customers Returns From Space Station

  31-05-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A SpaceX capsule carrying a former NASA astronaut and three paying customers returned from the International Space Station, marking the conclusion of a historic weeklong mission for the crew. From a report: The Crew Dragon spacecraft departed the space station Tuesday morning and the crew spent nearly 12 hours in orbit as the capsule maneuvered back toward Earth. After a fiery reentry, the Crew Dragon and passengers made a safe splashdown off the coast of Panama City, Florida, in the Gulf of Mex
  
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• IAEA Team In Japan For Final Review of Fukushima Nuclear Plant Water Discharge

  31-05-2023 05:30 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: An International Atomic Energy Agency team arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a final review before Japan begins releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, a plan that has been strongly opposed by local fishing communities and neighboring countries. The team, which includes experts from 11 countries, will meet with officials from the government and the plant operator, Tok
  
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• Arm Announces the Cortex X4 For 2024, Plus a 14-Core M2-Fighter

  31-05-2023 04:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Arm unveiled its upcoming flagship CPUs for 2024, including the Arm Cortex X4, Cortex A720, and Cortex A520. These chips, built on the Armv9.2 architecture, promise higher performance and improved power efficiency. Arm also introduced a new 'QARMA3 algorithm' for memory security and showcased a potential 14-core mega-chip design for high-performance laptops. Ars Technica reports: Arm claims the big Cortex X3 chip will have 15 percent higher performance than this year's X3 chip, and "40 percent b
  
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• Apple's Original Cloud Photo Sync Service Shuts Down This Summer

  31-05-2023 03:25 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  My Photo Stream, the free cloud-based photo syncing feature Apple launched in 2011, is shutting down on July 26th, according to an Apple Support page spotted by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The Verge reports: The end of My Photo Stream won't come as too much of a surprise. Although it was free, it came with a long list of restrictions on the amount of photos you could upload, and these were only saved on Apple's servers for 30 days. Photos saved in the cloud then had to be manually saved locally if
  
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• Student Loan Payment Pause 'Gone' Under Debt Ceiling Deal

  31-05-2023 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on Sunday that the student loan payment pause is "gone" in the debt ceiling deal announced by the California Republican and President Biden late Saturday night. "The pause is gone within 60 days of this being signed. So that is another victory because that brings in $5 billion each month to the American public," McCarthy told Fox News on Sunday. McCarthy's remarks came after he and Biden came to an agreement in prin
  
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• Tackling Plastic Pollution: 'We Can't Recycle Our Way Out of This'

  31-05-2023 02:02 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from France 24: The scale of plastic pollution is growing, relentlessly. The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago, reaching 353 million tonnes in 2019, according to OECD figures. The vast majority goes into landfills, gets incinerated or is "mismanaged," meaning left as litter or not correctly disposed of. Just 9 percent of plastic waste is recycled. Ramping up plastic recycling might seem like a logical way to transform waste into
  
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• 'The Rotten Tomatoes of YouTube'

  31-05-2023 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  In 2021, YouTube made the controversial decision to hide dislike counts on its platform, citing the aim of protecting creators from harassment. While this removed a valuable metric for viewers, alternatives have emerged, such as the browser extension Return YouTube Dislike and the new site Favoree. The latter is being hailed as "the Rotten Tomatoes of YouTube," where users can rate and review YouTube channels. BGR reports: Earlier this week, one user disappointed with the removal of YouTube's di
  
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• Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Begins 11-Year Prison Sentence

  31-05-2023 00:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has begun her 11-year prison sentence after being convicted of four counts of fraud. The BBC reports: She will serve her term in a minimum-security prison in Texas. Holmes reported to the federal facility in Bryan, Texas, which holds between 500 and 700 inmates at any given time, on Tuesday. It is about 100 miles (160km) north of Houston, her hometown. Her arrival at the facility was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which declined to give an
  
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• Lawyer Cited 6 Fake Cases Made Up By ChatGPT; Judge Calls It 'Unprecedented'

  31-05-2023 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A lawyer is in trouble after admitting he used ChatGPT to help write court filings that cited six nonexistent cases invented by the artificial intelligence tool. Lawyer Steven Schwartz of the firm Levidow, Levidow, & Oberman "greatly regrets having utilized generative artificial intelligence to supplement the legal research performed herein and will never do so in the future without absolute verification of its authenticity," Schwartz wr
  
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